Eriocaulon.] CXLIX. ERIOCAULE^. 1717 



Female flower : Outer perianth-segments 1, 2, or 3, linear, at the base of the 

 stipes ; inner segments none. Ovary 8-merous. — K. achiton, Koern. in Linnaea, 

 xxvii. 630. 



Hab.: Can-on Creek, Carpentaria, Gtdliver; Endeavour Kiver, Banks and Solander; variong 

 localities in the neighbourhood of Kockhampton, Bowman, O'Shanesij; Dry-beef Creek, 

 Leichhardt. 



9. E. spectabile (showy), F. v. M. Fragm. i. 95 ; Benth. Ft. Austr. vii. 196. 

 Scapes striate, 3 to 6in. high. Leaves more than half as long, broadly linear, 

 tapering to a fine point. Flower-heads from a pale straw-colour to silvery-white, 

 at first depressed but soon globular, about 3 lines diameter. Outer empty bracts 

 obovate or almost orbicular, obtuse, almost herbaceous ; flowering bracts ovate or 

 the inner ones lanceolate, scarious and white but glabrous. Male flower : 

 Outer perianth-segments 2, narrow, about halfway up the stipes ; inner segments 

 minute or obsolete. Stamens 4. Female flower : Outer segments 2, linear- 

 spathulate, falcate, concave but not winged, rather rigid, attached below the 

 middle of the stipes but very deciduous ; inner segments erect, hyaline, very 

 narrow linear. Ovary 2-merous. 



Hab.: Gulf of Carpentaria, F. v. Mueller. 



10. E. scariosum (scarious), B, Br. Prod. 255 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 197. 

 Scapes slender, striate, 8 to 5in. long. Leaves thick at the base, tapering to a 

 fine point, about lin. long. Flower-heads of a light brown colour, soon becoming 

 globular, not above 2 lines diameter. Bracts orbicular, all scarious and glabrous, 

 a few outer ones very obtuse and empty, the flowering ones shortly mucronate, 

 the receptacle villous with long hairs. Male flower : Outer perianth-segments 2, 

 linear, slightly-enlarged upwards, often slightly fringed at the end ; inner 

 segments reduced to two small teeth. Stamens 4. Female flower : Outer 

 segments 2, falcate, concave or complicate with a broad dorsal wing ; inner 

 segments 2, erect, oval-oblong or obovate, denticulate at the end, shortly 

 contracted at the base into a claw. Ovary 2-merous. 



Hab.: Queensland, F. v. Mueller. 



11. E. fistulosum (pipe-like), B. Br. Prod. 255 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 197. 

 Evidently very near E. scariosum and most probably a variety only, with longer 

 leaves, attaining more than half the scape, and the outer perianth-segments in 

 the male flowers very narrow. 



Hab.: Endeavour Eiver, Banks and Solander. 



12. E. depressum (depressed), B. Br. Prod. 255 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 197. 

 Scapes rigid, striate, 2 to 4in. long. Leaves as in E. scariosum rather thick at 

 the base, tapering to a fine point, short in some specimens, but in other 

 specimens mors than half as long as the scape. Flower-heads pale-coloured, 

 depressed-globular or hemispherical, nearly 3 lines diameter when fully out. 

 Bracts all orbicular, a few outer ones more rigid and very obtuse, the others 

 thinner and mucronulate, but all flowering. Male flower : Outer perianth- 

 segments wanting ; inner segments reduced to 2 small teeth. Stamens 4, 

 Female flower : Outer segments in the 'flowers of the outer rows 2, falcate, 

 concave, or complicate with a broad dorsal wing, more or less connate, deficient 

 in the inner rows of flowers ; inner segments erect, obovate or oblong. 

 Ovary 2-merous. — E. heterogynum, F. v. M. Fragm. i. 93. 



Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, R. Brown. 



13. E. deustuih (of a burnt colour), B. Br. Prod. 255 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. 

 Til.. 197. — Very near E. depressiim and perhaps a variety, differing only in its 

 small stature and the very dark, almost black colour of its scapes and flower- 



Pabt VI. c 



