DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW AND RARE INDIAN PLANTS. 95 
inserted near the base of the pedicel; flowers blue; lateral sepals 8—10 mm. long; 
sepaline spur cylindrie or slender conical, symmetric or gibbous, 7—13 (-20) mm. long; 
anterior nectaries light-coloured, nearly as long as the lateral sepals, bifid, rarely shortly 
bilobed; pistils 3; follicles cylindric, 8—10 mm. long; seeds broadly obpyrainidate 
rounded, wrinkled with scariose closely imbricate scales. 
Flowers in June and July. 
Distribution: Persia, Afghanistan, Punjab. 
An examination of the numerous specimens of D. saniculefulium in the herbaria of Calcutta and 
Saharanpur shows of how little importance variations in the form of the spurs of the posterior sepal and 
of the necturies are in the group of forms of which D. hybridum may be taken as the type. 
This holds good especially with regard to the gibbosity of the sepaline spur, which is due to an 
excess of growth of the nectarial spurs which get curved and force part of the sepaline spur outwards. 
Accordingly we find gibbous spurs in D. hybridum and D. denudatum and straight or regularly curved 
spurs in D. cyphoplectrum and D. saniculefolium. Ав the other characters on which Boissier bases 
the distinction between D. cyphoplectrum апа D. hybridum prove variable, the former has to be 
reduced to the rank of a subspecies of the latter. To return to D. saniculefclium. The plant 
collected by Aitchison in the Kurrum Valley, and which Boissier refers as variety ma^ropleetrum to 
D. penicillatum, is much more closely allied to the Gilgit forms of P. saniculefolium; and as the name 
macroplectrum ceases to be appropriate, the writer prefers to call it var. kurrumense. To the group of 
D. saniculefolium belong also some plants from Eastern Afghanistan, among them No. 45 of Herb. 
Mast Ind. Comp., D. tuberosum? They are characterized by their long narrow-cylindrical sepaline, 
and elongated awl-shaped nectarial spurs. The insufficiency of the material leaves it somewhat 
doubtful whether this should be united with D. saniculefolium, or considered a separate species 
To a certain extent it reminds one of some forms of D. denudatum, but the seeds are those of 
D. saniculefolium. It is here described as subspecies conteteroides, 
The following varieties may be distinguished :— 
Subspecies I. VERUM. 
Var. а. REFRACTA; branched, glabrous or sparsely hairy; sepaline spur cylindric, gibbous, 
longer than the lamina; nectarial spurs refracted at the apex; ovaries glabrous. — 
Southern Persia, Afghanistan. 
Var. 8. AQUILEGIFOLIA, Boiss.; branched, without glands, glabrous or sparsely hairy; spur 
attenuated towards the tip. —Northern Persia, 
Var. у. конатвквіз, P. B.; branched, eglandulose; branches, pedicels, and sepals minutely 
pubescent with crisp grey hairs; sepaline spur cylindric or conical, slond.r, straight 
or recurved, rarely obscurely gibbous at the tip; nectarial врлг subulate, straight 
or recurved; ovaries somewhat hairy near the apex. Afghanistan (Grifih/); on 
dry hills in Kohat and Waziristan (Drummond, herb. Cale.!); on dry hills between 
the Indus and Jhelum (Fleming). 
GILGITENsis,, P. B.; rhizome cylindrie or subtuberous; stem simple or somewhat 
branched, pubescent with crisp hairs; sepaline spur slender, conical, straight or s ightly 
incurved, rarely gibbous; nectarial spurs gibbous below the apex; ovaries covered 
all over with minute hairs. Gilgit (Giles /). 
KURRAMENSIS (D. pen'cillatum, var. macropleetrum, Boiss.); rhizome suboylindiie or 
tuberous; stem scarcely branched, pubescent with crisp hairs, towards the apex 
and the pedicels more or less glandulose; sepaline spur straight or slightly curved, 
slender conical, 10-12 mm. long; nectarial spurs subulate incurved ; ovaries 
sparsely hairy all over. Kurrum Valley (Aitchison!) ; Ziarat (herb. Sah. /,. 
Subspecies IL. СОехтеткко1реѕ, P. B.; rhizome subtuberous, stem rather elongate, towards 
the base glabrescent, upwards sparsely hairy and like the pedicels glandulose; sepaline 
S 
on 
т, 
Var. 
А хх. Roy. Dor. Garp. Carc, Vor. У. 
