134 A FLORA OP MANILA 



1. C. ESCULENTUM (L.) Schott (C. antiquorum Schott). Gabi (Tag.) ; Taro. 



Leaves two or three or more, long-petioled, ovate, 20 to 50 cm long, 

 glaucous, entire, acute or shortly and sharply acuminate, with a broad, 

 triangular, basal sinus extending one-third or half-way to the insertion of 

 the petiole, the basal lobes broad, rounded; petiole green or purplish, 0.2 

 to 1 m long. Peduncles usually solitary. Spathe variable in length but 

 usually about 20 cm long, the tubular part green, usually about 4 cm long, 

 the limb lanceolate, acuminate, involute, yellow, about 20 cm long. Spadix 

 cylindric, about 8 cm long, green below, yellow or straw-colored above. 



Commonly cultivated in low wet lands, fl. Sept.-Dec; in general cultiva- 

 tion throughout the Philippines. Probably a native of India, now cultivated 

 in all tropical countries. 



In addition to the species considered above, some exotic forms are 

 cultivated, especially of the American genera Anthurium and Philodendron, 

 No attempt has been made to include these forms as material for proper 

 classification has not been available. 



17. LEMNACEAE (Duckweed or Lia Family) 



Small or minute, green, scale-like plants, rootless or with capillary roots, 

 floating on stagnant fresh water, propagated by budding, or by bulbils, 

 rarely flowering. Flowers monoceious, 1 to 3 from the margins or upper 

 surface, naked or in a spathe, the perianth none. Stamens 1 or 2. Ovary 

 1-ceIled, 1- to 7-ovuled. 



Genera 3, species about 20, in all countries, all genera and 4 or 5 species 

 in the Philippines. 



Plants bearing a single root 1. Lemna 



Plants bearing several to many roots 2. Spirodela 



1. LEMNA Linnaeus 



Small floating plants bearing a single root, the flowers borne in marginal 

 clefts. Filaments slender; anthers 2-celled. Ovules 1 or more. (Greek 

 name of a water plant.) 



Species about 15 in all countries, 2 or 3 in the Philippines. 



1. L. pauclcostata Hegelm. Lia (Tag.) ; DucTcweed. 



Plant flat, green or both surfaces, elliptic to oblong-ovate, rounded, very 

 slightly inequilateral, faintly or distinctly 3-nerved, 2 to 4 mm long. 



Common on stagnant pools of fresh watei", sometimes nearly covering 

 the surface; throughout the Philippines. Cosmopolitan in the tropics. 



2. SPIRODELA Schleiden 



Differing from Lemna in the plants bearing several to many roots. 

 Species 2, of wide distribution, 1 in the Philippines. 



1. 8. polyrrhlza (L.) Schleid. Lia (Tag.). 



Plant nearly or quite flat, orbicular to obovate, rounded, 4 to 7 mm 

 long, faintly about 7-nerved, the upper surface green, the lower one 

 purplish. 



Floating on pools of stagnant fresh water, occasional; widely distributed 

 in the Philippines. In most temperate and tropical regions. 



