4 Eriocatdonea. {Eriocaulon. 



1-3 in., tip membranous ; heads \-\ in. diam., depressed- 

 spherical, pale or snow-white ; bracts broadly obovate or oblong, 

 scarious, glabrous, at length reflexed, straw-col'd.; receptacle 

 small, hemispheric, densely villous with long pale hairs; 

 bracteoles cuneately oblanceolate, acute, bearded at the tip, 

 membranous ; male fl. shortly stipitate, sep. spathulate, 2 

 concave, 1 flat, one pet. much the longest, obovate, exceeding 

 the bracteole, villous all over, stam. 6; fern. fl. subsessile, sep. 

 of male, corolla subsessile, pet. narrowly oblanceolate, very 

 unequal, villous, disk with a black spot ; seeds subglobose -Jg- 

 in. diam., papillose. 



Upper montane zone ; rare. Nuwara Eliya (Gardner) ; Pidurutalagala 

 (Thwaites) ; Horton Plains, alt. 7200 ft. (Pearson). Fl. April. 

 Endemic. 



5. E. longlcuspis, Hk.f. in Fl. B. Ind. vi. 573 (1893). 



E. cristatum, var., Thw. Enum. 341. C. P. 789. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 573. 



Stem short, as thick as a swan's quill; 1. 2-2| in., linear- 

 subulate, acuminate, flat, many-veined, opaque, coriaceous 

 sheath obscurely villous at the base within ; scapes 1 or 2, 

 18-20 in., very slender, weak, flexuous, tip of sheath mem- 

 branous ; heads \ in. diam., the black cusps of the bracteoles 

 contrasting with the small white fl. ; bracts very small, 

 cuneately obovate, scarious, blackish; recept. hemispheric, 

 clothed with long hairs ; bracteoles cuneiform, tips rounded, 

 toothed, and with a long black cusp, glabrous or the inner 

 dorsally villous; male and fern. fl. stipitate, male sep. 3, 

 narrow, concave, tips hairy, one lobe of cor. much exceeding 

 the bracteoles, villous, spathulate, stam. 6; fern. sep. 3, linear- 

 oblong, stipitate, pet. narrowly spathulate, ciliate, each with 

 a black spot ; seeds not seen. 



Lower montane zone ; very rare. Ramboda (Gardner). Fl. Jan. 

 Endemic. 



6. E. atratum, Korn. hi Linncsa, xxvii. 610 (1854). 

 Thw. Enum. 241. C. P. 61 (part). 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 574. 



Stem 1-4 in., densely tufted, erect or decumbent, and 

 sometimes branched, as thick as a swan's quill at the base or 

 more slender; 1. 4-6 by y 1 — T V in., narrowly linear, obtuse or 

 acute, erect or spreading from an erect base, thick in texture, 

 veins very many and close-set, sheath more or less woolly at 

 the base within; scape solitary, 6-12 in., tip of sheath mem- 

 branous; head |-| in. diam., hemispheric; bracts cuneately 

 obovate, incurved, rigid, convex, black, grey, or yellowish, 

 shining, glabrous, inner acute; recept. hemispheric, densely 



