378 commelynacejE. \_PoIIm. 



sMhih pubescent. Leaves broadly ovate-lanceolate or oblong, acuminate, 4 

 to 6 in. long in the Hongkong specimens, 8 or 9 in. in some Javanese ones, 

 narrowed into a rather long petiole' above the sheath. Panicle pedunculate, 

 ovate or oblong, 3 or 3 in. long, usuaUy pubescent. Sepals nearly orbicular, 

 about li Hues long. Petals smaller. Pruit 3 or 4 lines diameter.— ^cZmo 

 aonogonends,'&. Mey. in Eel. Hsnk. i. 138, t. 24. Anilema didymum. Seem. 

 Bot. Her. 423, not of Hamilt. 



Hongkong, Eance, Wright. Also in the Philippines and Java. The true J. didymum. 

 Ham., is an allied species of PoUia from Khasia, with the leaves sessile or nearly so, larger 

 more persistent sepals, etc. 



5. CYANOTIS, Don. 

 Plowers regular. Sepals united at the base. Petals united more or less 

 by their claws in a 3-lobed corolla. Stamens 6 ; filaments bearded towards 

 the top; anthers uniform. Ovary with 3 ovules in each cell attached to its 

 centre. Capsule 3-valved. Seeds, one erect, the other pendulous.— Creeping 

 or ascending herbs. Plowers in short dense spikes or clusters, either within 

 the leaf-sheaths, or pedunculate and suiTOunded by imbricate falcate bracts. 

 A small Asiatic or Afiican genns, chiefly tropical. 



Leaves linear. Flowers few, within the leaf-sheaths \. C. axillaris. 



Leaves lanceolate, often white-wooUy. Flower-spikes bracteate, in ter- 

 minal or lateral clusters 2. C. fasciculata. 



1. C. axillaris, Rcem. and Sch. ; Kunth, Enum. iv. 105. A glabrous 

 annual with long creeping branches. Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, 3 to 

 4 in. long. Plowers 2 or 3 together, nearly sessile within the short loose leaf- 

 sheaths. Sepals about 2 lines long, divided nearly to the base. Corolla deep 

 blue, the tube longer than the sepals, the lobes ovate. Pilaments thickened 

 above a dense tuft of ai-ticulate haii-s. 



Hongkong, Eance. Common in wet fields in India, from Ceylon and the Peninsula to 

 the Archipelago. 



3. C. fasciculata, Rmm. and Sch. ; Kunth, Unum, iv. 104 ; Wight, Ic. 

 t. 3086. A perennial, ascending to about i ft., more or less clothed with a 

 white loose wool, which readily wears off. Leaves lanceolate, 1 to 3 in. long. 

 Plowers blue, in little heads or short spikes, 3 or 3 together, unequally pe- 

 dunculate or nearly sessile, terminal or in the upper axils, and each head sur- 

 rounded by 8 to 10 lanceolate much falcate imbricate bracts, the lower 5 or 

 6 lines long, the others gradually smaller, filaments white-woolly bdow the 

 anthers. — C. lanata, Benth. in Hook. Nig. PI. 542. 



Hongkong, Harland. In Nepal, the Indian Peninsula, Ceylon, and tropical Africa. 



Order CXIX. XYRlDACEiE. 



Plowers hermaphrodite, usually irregular. Perianth of 3 outer segments, 

 one of which much larger, more petal-like, and within the others, or, reduced 

 to that one only, and 3 or 3 inner petal-like segments sometimes united into 

 1. Stamens 3, either all beaiing anthers or 3 baiTen and petal-like, inserted 

 at the base of the inner perianth. Ovary with 3 paiietal placentae, sometimes 

 meeting or even united in the centre. Ovules numerous. Capsule 3-valved. 



