THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 491 



body, tliougli actually three-lobed, as is clearly sliown in 



figures 4 and 5 in tlie accompanying plate drawn from 



nature. 



Style — Filiform, deflexed almost at right angles from the yery 



apex of the ovary, tapering into a trifid stigma from a broadish 



base, greenish just as the flowers open, gradually changing into 



yellow. Sometimes the style remains long after the petals have 



fallen. 



Fruit — A capsule 2 inches long ; an inch broad when full 

 developed ; coriaceous ; septicidal. 



Seeds — Numerous, sub globose, in dense double rows in each of 

 the three carpels of the capsule. Testa spongy white when 

 young, covered with a brilliant rich scarlet mucilaginous coat 

 when the fruit matures. 



Embryo — Cylindrical. 



Remarks. — Gloriosa mperha is essentially a monsoon plant; it 

 begins to sprout out in the early part of the rainy season, and dies 

 soon after the rains. The bulb remains dormant throughout the cold 

 weather. It flowers and bears fruit from July to September, Should 

 the plant be cultivated as a garden beauty or ornamental trellis-plant, 

 it is best to repot or replant it in February or March, or at the latest 

 in April, when the terminal bud of the tuber begins to sprout out. 

 Dalzell and Gibson call it '' Buchnag-." This is a mistake. Buchnag 

 is the root of Aconitum ferox, which is different in form and appear- 

 ance. There is no doubt, however, that the tubers of this plant are 

 adulterated with the tubers of the real Buchnag. Dalzell and Gib- 

 son also call the plant " Kalawee." This is evidently a misprint, and 

 meant for the Marathi synonym *' Kala-lawee" (^ar^rff). Surgeon- 

 General Edward Balfour, of Madras, states that the petals of the 

 flower of Gloriosa superha are fringed [Cyelopmiia of India, Yol. I.), 

 It is not so. There is no fringe of any kind on any part of the 

 plant. The colour of the flowers depends a great deal on the amount of 

 the sun or the intensity of it, to which the flowers are exposed as 

 they are maturing and expanding. The specimen from which our 

 drawing is made was obtained from a plant which flowered under a 

 persistent cloudy sky ; the scarlet colour is therefore not quite so deep 

 or bright as it inight be, and very often is. Firminger speaks of a 



