OLXvi. AROiDK^. (J. D. Hooker.) 523 



18. COX.OCASIA, Linn. 



Tall coarse herbs, tuberous or with a stout short oaudex, flowering and 

 leafing together. Leaves stoutly petioled, peltate, ovate -cord ate. Spathe 

 stoutly peduncled ; tube thick, accrescent, persistent, mouth constricted ; 

 limb erect, deciduous. Spadix shorter than the spathe, stout or slender ; 

 male and fem. infl. with usually interposed flat neuters ; appendage 

 cylindric subulate or 0. Ovaries and ovules as in Bemusatia. Berries 

 oboonic or oblong. Seeds oblong, sulcate, albamen copious ; embryo axile. 

 ■ — Species 6 or 7 tropical Asiatic. 



1. C. Antiquorum, Sohott Melet. i. 18 ; S^n. 40 ; Frodr. 38 ; leaves 

 large ovate with a broad triangular basal sinus, tube of spathe oblong 2-4 

 times shorter than the narrow lanceolate limb, appendage very variable. 

 Miquel Fl. Ind. Bat. iii. 202 ; Kunth Enum. iii. 37 ; Thwaites Enwm. 335 ; 

 Benfh. Fl. Austral.Yn. 155; Fnffhr Arac.4i91 and-Zcore.imisd.No.251. 0. escu- 

 lenta, and acris, Schott Melet. i. 18 ; Kunth I. c. 0. nymphaeifolia, Kunth I.e. 

 C. Vouia.nesa, Schott in (Estr. Bot. TPocAewJ^. (1854), 409. 0. pruinipes, Zbc/i 

 Sf Bouchi,Ind. Sera. Sort. Berol.{l^h^,4!. 0. euchlora, C.Koch. Sf Lindl.l.c. 

 App. Caladium esculentum. Vent. Sort. Cels. 30 ; Willd. Sp. PL iv. 489 ; C. 

 acre, Br. Prod/r. 336 ; 0. nymphseifolium. Vent. I. c. ; Oriff. Notul. iii. 144, t. 

 161 B. 2 (ovules). Arum Colocasia. Linn. 8p. Fl. 965 ; Boxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 

 494 ; Grah. Gat. Bomh. Fl. 228 ; Wight Ic. t. 786, f. 1. A. nymphsBifolium, 

 Roxb. & Qrah. II. ce. ; Wight I. c. t. 2. A. peltatnm, Lam,. Fncycl. iii. 

 13.— Colocasia, Wall. Cat. i^iZ—Rheede Sort. Mai. xi. t. 23. 



Throughout the hotter parts of India (up to 7600 ft. in the Himalaya) aud 

 Cbyxon, in moist and dry places, wild or cultivated. — Disteib. cult, in all hot 

 countries. 



Leaves 6-16 in., dark green, dull, sometimes clouded with black; petiole stout, 

 3-4 ft., green or violet. Peduncles solitary or clustered and connate, much shorter 

 than the petioles. Spathe 8-18 in., caudate-acuminate, erect, pale yellow. Spadix 

 shorter than the spathe; fem. infl. as long as that of the staminodes, male infl. 

 longer. — Very common and variable, Eoxburgh distinguishes 3 varieties besides 

 nymphaifolia, they are — 1, a dark one from wet places in which the roots (base of stem?) 

 n«ver swell, but send out many suckers, and the leaves and petioles are more or less 

 purple, it is much eaten ; 2, one that grows on dry ground with dark purple or 

 bluish clouds in the leaf ; 3, one like the last but all green. Of nt/mphisifoUa, which 

 he describes as having repand leaves. He says that he doubts if it is anything but a 

 large aquatic state, abundant wild on borders of lakes, with the subterraneous stem 

 often as long and thick as a man's arm, reddish petioles peduncles and leaves, 

 narrower leaves, and a short appendage ; all parts are eaten. 



2. C. affinis, Schott in Bonpland. (1859) 28 ; Frodr. 138; leaves ovate 

 or orbicular-ovate base rounded retuse or cordate nerves very slender, tube of 

 spathe cylindric 4-6 times shorter than the linear-lanceolate long acuminate 

 limb, appendage as long or twice as long as the infl., stigma sessile disci- 

 form. Engler Arac. 492. Colocasia, No. 3, Herb. Ind. Or. Hf. & T. Alooasia 

 Jenningsii, Veitch in III. Sort. (1869), t. 585 ; Gard. Chron. (1869), 136 ; 

 Flora des Serres, xvii. 1818.— Aroid. Wall. Cat. 8952 B. 



SiKKiM HiMAiATA, Eincf. Assam, Bamitton. Khasia Hiils, alt. 2-4000 ft. 

 J. D. H. and T. T. Btjbma ; Prome Hills, Wallich. 



Tuter small. Leaves 4-6 in. long and nearly as broad, membranous, green with 

 dark blotches between the nerves, glaucous beneath, tip obtuse or acute; petiole 

 slender, 6-8 in. Peduncle 3-5 in. Spathe 4^6 in., tube 1 in., tumid, green; limb 

 primrose yellow. Spadix with a narrow neck between the male and fem. infl. 



