6 D. Prain & I. H. BavkWl— On Dioscorea deltoidea, etc. [Supplfc. 



Mirga, 7200 feefc, Oatacre, 17567, 17568. Hazara district: without 

 precise locality, but abundant in many places, 3000-6000 feet, Stewart; 

 liill between Mahowa and Bojdarrah, Stewart in litt , I.e.; Khagan, 

 Valley, 4800 feet, Inayat, 20205, 20205a, Steivart, 603|. Kashmir : 

 near Muliyal, Winterhottom, 336 ; Baramula, Winterbottom, 335 ; above 

 Shapiyon, 7000 feet, G. B. Clarke, 28566. Cliamba : between Tisa 

 Nala and Bara, 6000 feet. Lace, J381 ; Pangi, on the Clienab, 

 Brandis, 3362 ; Kulal Forest in Pangi, 8000 feet. Lace, 1669. Kulu : 

 Phulga, Watt, 13473. Simla: Gowai, 6000 feet. Gamble, 5140 ; Narkanda 

 Brandis ; Chur, 8000 feet, /. B. Drummond : Jubal, 5000-7000 feet, 

 Edgeworth. Bhaji Forest, Kalka Pershad in herb. R. E. P. 19065. 

 Bashahr: Dippi, 7000 feet, Brandis, 3361. Jaunsar : Konam, 7000 

 feet; Webb, 153. Dehra Dhun : Mussoori, Brandis, 1477, King ; 

 Mussoori Range, King. Tehri-Garhwal : Ganges valley near Jhala, 

 8000-9000 feet, Ditthie. British Garhwal : Kiiig. Kumaon : Kunta- 

 gong, 5000-8000 feet, T. Thomson ; near Kathe, VsOO feet, and Valley 

 of Sarju at 3500 feet, Strachey and Winterbottom, 1 ; Sujahee Devee, 

 Puinath Village, Barchoola Ridge, Strachey and Winterbottom 68 ; near 

 Kupkot, 3500 feet, Strachey and Winterbottom, 570. Nepal : Sankas, 

 Wallich, 5110. 



Dioscorea deltoidea may flower very much earlier than its allies ; it was collect- 

 ed in yoang fruit in the Bhaji Forests in the end of May. 



Although in no places eaten as food, it is not without its uses. Sir George 

 Watt notes on the ticket of his specimen " Roots used for washing clothes, especi- 

 ally wool; vern. name " Shingli " : and Sir Walter Lawrence in his Valley of 

 Kashmir, p. 75, calls it Krits, and says that the root is used as a diuretic in doses 

 of 1 dram, and that in large doses it is a poison. E. T. Atkinson in the Gazetteer 

 of the North- Western Provinces, X., (1882), p. 703, names a plant as D. deltoides, and 

 calls it "Gun" in the vernacular: doubtless he means D. deltoidea. Stewart in his 

 Panjab Plants, (1869), p. 128, under D. deltoidea, gives a number of vernacular names 

 many of which seem to belong to another widely distinct species of Dioscorea. 



Dioscorea panthaica. Radix ignota. G aides glabri, sinistrorsum 

 volubiles, teretiusculi, ad basin petioli spinis flaccidis stipulinis obsiti, 

 purpurei. Folia alterna, chartacea, supra glaberrima, subtus ad 

 nervos et nervulos papillis minutissimis simplicibua densius hirtella, 

 pellucide punctata, subdeltoideo-ovato-cordata, acuminata, apice 

 minutissime mucronulata, basis sinu latissimo, margine plus minus 

 undulata, 7-nervia, nervis extimis profunde bifidis, vel 9-nervia, 

 uervulis secondariis reticulatis parum distiiictis, 85 cm. longa, 6 cm. 

 lata : petiolus glaber, sulcatus, tenuis, 5 cm. longus. Spicse masculse 

 simplices, in paniculas axillares dispositag, ; flores 2-ni in glomerulis 

 sessilibus 4-6 mm. remotis in rhachi nonnunquam minopere angulata 



