I 



1904.] D. Prain & I. H. Burkill — On Divscorea deltoidea^ etc. 6 



when present are smooth with a silvery skin : the specimen of B. Prazeri collected 

 by one of us at Momonk, east of Bhamo, close to the Chinese frontier, had snch 

 silvery bulbils, slightly verrucose, and Haines notes on the ticket of his Duars 

 specimen that it bore bulbils with a silvery smooth skin. 



We have had the two species in cultivation, side by side, at the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens, Sibpnr, where they flowered simultaneously, but at the end of September 

 the leaves of D. Prazeri were in full defoliation, while B. sikkimensis as still in 

 vigorous growth. 



DioscoREA DELTOiDEA, Wall. Bhizoma crassTim, aliquanto informe, pa- 

 rum liypogaBum, venenosum, carne albido. Caulis glaber, sinistrorsum 

 volubilis, teretiusculus, inermis, viridis. Folia alterna, cliartacea, supra 

 glaberrima, subtus ad nervos et nervulos pilis minutis simplicibus hir- 

 tella, pellucide lineolata, basis sinu lato vel latissimo, subdeltoideo-cor- 

 dato-ovata, acuminata, apice miautissime mucronulata, margine saepis- 

 sime plus minus undulata necnon aliquomodo ad medium constricta, 

 7-nervia, nervis extirais profunde bifidis, vel 9-nervia, nervulis seconda- 

 riis reticulatis ufcrinque disfcinctis, ad 12 cm. longa, ad 10 cm. lata: 

 petiolus glaber, sulcatus, tenuis, 4-12 cm. longus. Spicse viasctclsB 

 simplices vel (inferiores) composit83, axillares ; flores glomerati, 2-3-ni, 

 sessilea, in rhachi angulata glomerulis '5-1 cm. distantibus sparsim 

 dispositi : pedunculus glaber, simplex ad 15 cm. longus vel maximus ad 

 30 cm. : braotese lanceolatae, ad 2 mm. longse : bracteolse ovato-acumi- 

 natse, naviculari-concavse, glabrge, floribus dimidio breviores. Perian- 

 thii masculi laciniee ovatae, obtusse, subaequales, patentes. Stamina 6, 

 sequalia, filamentia sequilonga ; antherae filamentis multo breviores- 

 Spicse feminesa axillares, solitariae, simplices, 8-15 cm. vel rarissime 

 ad 25 cm, usque longae, dependentes : flores 4-12, breviter pedicellati, 

 deorsura spectantes, circiter 1 cm. remoti : bracteae et bracteolae adsunt. 

 Capsulse breviter pedicellatae, assurgentes : alae maturse pergamentaceae, 

 vertice versus subquadratae, basin versus rotundatae, stramineo-corneae, 

 punctulis lineolisque purpureis horizontaliter notatae, ad 3 cm. longae, 

 1.6 cm. latae. Semina in quoque loculo gemina, latissima, complanata, 

 11 mm, longa, 15-18 mm. lata, ala membranacea loculam fere implente 

 inaequaliter circumcincta, — Dioscorea deltoidea, Wall. Cat. (1832), 5100 ; 

 Stewart in Journ. Agric. and Hortic. Soc. Ind. XIV., (1867), p. 37; 

 Kunth, Enum. V., (1850), 340; Hook, f., Flor. Brit. Ind. VL, (1892). 

 291 pro parte ; Duthie in Records Bot. Survey Ind. I., (1898), 173 , 

 Lawrence, Valley of Kashmir, (1895), p. 75; Griseb. in Mart., Flor; 

 Brasil., III., (1842), i. 43, quoad Wall. Cat., 5100, sed ref. ad Rumph. 

 Hort. Amb., V., t. 180 exclus. 



North-West Himalaya. Without locality, Stoliczka: Herb. Fal- 

 coner, 1116. ChitraJ : Ziarat, 7200 feet, Barriss, 16883, 16684. Dir : 



