Mriocaulon.] Eriocaulonece. I I 



scapes many, 3-4 in., slender, 5 -ribbed, sheath \ in., obtuse, 

 broadly membranous; heads small, \ in. diam., globose or 

 ovoid, white or purplish; bracts much shorter than the head, 

 outer broadly oblong, obtuse, tip rounded, inner narrower, 

 all scarious, spreading or ascending, glabrous, pale; recept. 

 small, columnar, glabrous, or sparsely hairy; bracteoles linear- 

 oblong or oblong-lanceolate, obtuse or subacute, closely im- 

 bricating, hyaline, glabrous, shining, with usually a broad, 

 often purplish, central band of colour; fl. all glabrous, male 

 and fem. stipitate, male sep. 3, free or connate, obovate- 

 oblong, cor.-lobes minute, stam. 1-6; fem. sep. 1 or 2, filiform 

 or o, pet. o, stipes of ov. with a node at the position of the 

 pet.; seeds very minute, about 100 in. long, oblong, quite 

 smooth, pale red- or yellow-brown, shining. 



Moist region up to 3000 ft. ; common. Fl. Oct., Feb. 

 Throughout India and in China, Philippines and Japan. 

 Burman seems to have been the first to refer E. sexangulare, L., to 

 this, and so misled subsequent writers. 



18. E. fluviatile, Trim, in Jonrn. Bot. xxiii. 270 (1885). C. P. 



3057. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 585. 



A perennial, submerged aquatic, with emersed heads; 

 stems 2-3 in., very slender, interlaced, flexuous, copiously 

 rooting; 1. 8-10 in., about -^ in. broad, almost filiform, 

 concave above, dorsally convex, flaccid, sheath dilated, 

 membranous, 7-veined, base cottony within; scape solitary, 

 rather shorter than the 1., slender, 7-ribbed, sheath cylindric, 

 tip with a long green point; head floating, depressed-globose, 

 \ in. diam. ; bracts dark, glabrous, outer orbicular, inner 

 broadly oval or oblong, subscariously coriaceous ; recept. 

 liemispheric, glabrous; bracteoles obovate or cuneately oblong, 

 membranous, tips rounded, villous ; male fl. : — sep. 3, spathu- 

 late, dorsally villous beyond the middle, cor. - lobes rather 

 large, villous, disk with a black spot; fem. fl. subsessile, sep. 

 and subsessile pet. narrow, spathulate, ciliate, the pet. 

 with a black spot ; seeds about -^ in., oblong, smooth, pale 

 brown. 



In deep running water, in moist low country ; very rare. Streams now 

 - supplying the great reservoir at Labugama, first noticed by Ferguson in 

 1882; near Hewesse, Pasdun Korale. Fl. Jan., Feb. 

 Endemic. 

 The habit is that of E. Dalzellii, but the flowers are very different. 



