226 



spines naked, paired, spirally set ; leaves tongue-shaped, mucronate, 

 very fleshy, 4 to 6 inches long (the branchlets come off in whorls of 

 four) ; peduncles solitary or twin, in the axil of the fallen leaf, half 

 an inch long, 3-flowered at the apex, of which the central one comes 

 out first in February, while the lateral ones are but undeveloped 

 buds. The centre flower consists of five thick, fleshy scales, alter- 

 nate, with five thinner scales fringed on the margin and imbricate 

 in aestivation ; stamens 40, in 6 bundles, each bundle of 7 to 8 

 stamens, surrounded by branched and tattered fringes ; ovary of 

 the central flower abortive. Wight Ic. 1862 ; Syn. E neriifolia, 

 Hort. Beng. 36; Tithymalus zeylanicus, Pluk. Aim. 369; Rheed. 

 Mai. ii, t. 43. Gujarat and Sind, common. 



2. E Neriifolia, Willd. sp. ii, 885.— Shrubby, often arboreous ; 

 branches sharply 5-angled ; stipulary thorns twin ; leaves subsessile, 

 oblong, about 3 inches long, and much less fleshy than those of 

 the preceding. Bombay, Concan, and Deccan. The common 

 Milk-bush. Native name "Thor." Syn. -Ligularia, Herb. Amb. 

 iv. 88, «. 40 ; E ligularia, Hort. Beng. 



3. E Antiquorum, Willd. sp. ii, 881. — A large, leafless shrub ; 

 branches spreading, triangular, armed with double spines at the 

 protuberances of the angles ; peduncles solitary or in pairs, 

 3-flowered ; flowers in the cold season. Rheed. Mai. ii, t. 42. A 

 rather scarce species. In Severndroog Fort; Goregaum, in the 

 Concan; Falls of Gokak. 



4. AcAULis, Roxb. — Stemless, unarmed ; root very large, fusi- 

 form, perennial ; leaves radical, fleshy, cuneiform, with curled 

 margins ; peduncles from the crown of the root 5 to 7-flowered. 

 The leaves are often spotted, as if with blood. The root is used 

 medicinally. Mahableshwur, Braminwara range, Sawunt Warree. 



5. E RoTHiANA, Spr. — An erect, smooth, herbaceous plant ; 

 leaves oblong-lanceolate, tapering towards the base, glabrous ; 

 whorls 3 to 6-branched ; branches 2, or in the old plants, 

 3 times dichotomous, with broad, cordate, subperfoliate bracts 

 at each fork; flowers solitary in the fork. Wight Ic. 1864. On 

 the Ghauts ; in fields at Dasgaum ; in the black soil of Gujarat. 

 A glaucous, dichotomous plant, one foot high ; flowers in the cold 

 weather. £ lacta. Roth ; E glauca, Roxb. Fl Ind. ii, 473. 



6. E Strobilifeea, Dalz. in Hook. Jour. Bot. iii, p 229. — 2 to 

 3 feet high, smooth ; stem erect, round, naked at the base, dichoto- 

 mously branched towards the top ; flowers racemose, terminal on 

 the branches ; bracts cordate, ovate-oblique, mucronate, imbricated 

 scariose, reticulated, 1 to 2 inches long ; capsule pubescent ; 

 petaloid scales oblique, somewhat wedge-shaped. On rocks in the 

 Warree Country ; flcwers in February ; leaves none. Syn. E 

 iFupestris, Law (?) in Graham's Catalogue, p 251. 



