368 CLX. COMMELINACEJ;. (J. D. Hooker.) [Pollia- 



glabrous or scabernlons above. Peduncle villous with deflexed hairs ; panicle viscidlv 

 pubescent; bracts oblong, persistent. SepaJs elliptic, glabrous or puberuloas. Petals 

 white or pale pink. Fruit as in P. Aelisia. — The Indian forms occur under two 

 varieties. 



Var. indwa ; leaves subsessile caudate-acuminate glaibrons or pnberulons beneath, 

 pedicels viscid, sepals persistent, the posterior pendulous. P. indioa, Thwaites Enum. 

 323. Aelisia indioa, Wight le. t. 2068; Sassk. Gommelin. Ind. 41. A. elegans, 

 Sassh. PI Jungh. 49 ; Gomm. Ind. 50. Commelina seoundiflora, Blume Enum. 3. 

 Aneilema secundiflorum, Eunth Enum. \v. 69. — The Deccan Peninsula and Ceylon. 

 — Java. 



Var. gigwatea ; panicle corymbosely-dichotomous, branches panicled at the tips, 

 1-2 lower branches elongate. P. indica, va/r. A, ClarJee in Jou/rn. Linn. 8oe. Bot. 

 xi. 451. P. japonica, Sance in Trimen Journ. Bot. 1878, 233 {not of TTmnh.). 

 Aelisia gigantea, Sassk. Oommelin. Ind. 46. A. indica, Serb. Wt. ; Clarke Gomm. 

 & Oyrt. Beng. t. 29. Aneilema didymum. Wall. Gat. 5202. — From Sikkim eastwards 

 and southwards. — China. 



4 P. subumbellata, Clarice in Journ. Lirm. Soc. Bot. xi. 451; 

 Monogr. 129 ; panicle sessile depressed, branches subumbellately decarved, 

 stamens 3 perfect, capsnle globose, cells many-seeded. Aelisia umbellata, 

 Clarke Comm. & Ci/rt. Beng. t. 30. Aneilema reniforme, Sam. in Wall. 

 Cat. 5205. Aneilema, sp. Wall. Cat. 9070. A. sp. 3, Serb. Ind. Or. H. 

 f. & T. Dictyospermum Wightii, var. robustum, Sassk. Commelin. Ind. 

 19. 



Eastebn Himalaya ; Sikkim, the Bhotan and Mishmi hills, ascending to 

 6000 ft. Assam, Silhet, Cachab and Munnipobe. 



Stem creeping and rooting below, then suberect. Xieaves 3-4 by 1-2 in., 

 petioled, elliptic-lanceolate, caudate-acuminate, scabernlons on both surfaces. 

 Panicle pnberulons ; bracts small; bracteoles amplexicanl, persistent, glabrous. 

 Sepals rounded, glabrous, enclosing the globose blue fruit which is -^-^ in. diam. 

 Petals white. Seeds trapezoid, dorsally much flattened, brown, smooth. 



5. P. pentasperma, Clarke Monogr. 129 ; panicle peduncled ovate- 

 lanceolate, stamens 3 perfect, fruit ovoid narrowed into a long beak acnte, 

 cells 1-2-seeded. 



Khasia HiLta; at Shillong, alt. 4000 ft., Gla/rke. Munnipoee; on Eohima, 

 alt. 6000 ft., Clarke. 



Stem erect ; sheaths long, pubescent. Leaves 3-6 by li-2i in., shortly-petioled, 

 caudate-acuminate, elliptic, acute , at both ends, slightly scabernlons above and 

 pubescent beneath. Pecki/acle pubescent with deflexed hairs, subumbellate ; bracts 

 oblong; bracteoles imbricate, ochreate, persistent. Sepals puberulous, accrescent. 

 JFruit i in. long including the beak, which is as long as the body, hard, smooth, 

 brown, shining. Seeds much compressed, rugulose. 



2. COia»IEI.XMA, Unn. 



Herbs, usually slender and creeping below. Flowers in usually 2-fid 

 cymes, emerging one at a time from a terminal complicate or funnel-shaped 

 or cacuUate spathe, flowers of upper branch of cyme small, deciduous, of 

 lower fertile; fruiting pedicel and capsule retracted within the spathe. 

 Sepals 3, membranous, 2 inner often connate at the base. Petals longer, 

 one larger and often clawed. Stamens 3 perfect, and 2-3 imperfect ; anthers 

 oblong, oae usually largest. Ovary 3-rarely 2-celled, 2 cells 1-2-ovuled, 

 third cell if present 1-ovuled or empty. Capsule loculicidal, the posticons 

 cell sometimes indehiscent or 0, or the 2 anticous cells empty connate in- 



