34 



glabrous, reddish : spikelets sessile, or peduncled, very acute : 

 peduncles quadrangular : flowers dense, glabrous, pale red : calyx 

 2 — 3 times longer than the bracts : sepals 5-nerTed, equal, 

 lanceolate, acuminate : bracts narrow-lanceolate, acute : pistil 

 nearly equalling the stamens : utricle ovate : seed ovate, smooth, 

 black. 

 Peninsula. 



(3) P. SEBICETJM. (Dalz.) 



Ident. Dalz. Bomb. flor. p. 216. 



Syn. Achyranthes sericea, Koen. in Boxh.Jlor. Ind. 



Migrav. Wight's Icon. t. 726. 



Spec. Chae. Stem erect, tomentose : leaves petioled, broad- 

 ovate, acuminate, silty : peduncles axillary, longer than the leaf, 

 round, 2 — 3-cleft, stiff, tomentose : spikes fiexuose. 



Kattywar. Peniasula. 



GENUS X. PTILOTIJS. 

 Pentandria Rfonogynia. Sex: Syst. 



Beriv. Prom Ptilotus, feathered, in allusion to the ciliated 

 sepals. 



Gen. Ohab. Plowers hermaphrodite, tribracteate : sepals 5, 

 equal, erect, inner ones 3, with longish flexuose hairs at the 

 margin : stamens connate at the base : staminodes none : anthers 

 2-celled, ovate or elliptic : ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled : style elon- 

 gated : stigma simple, capitate : utricle oblong, 1-seeded : inner 

 sepals cohering below with wool, open at the apex : seed vertical, 

 lenticular-reniform. — Herbs: leaves alternate, often narrow: 

 flowers terminal, seldom axillary, enclosed below in stifi" hairs, 

 arranged in long or contracted spikes, or in small heads : bracts 

 keeled, scariose, shining, persistent. 



(1) P. OTAirs. {Mog^.) 



Ident. Dec. prod. XIII. s. 2. p. 281. 



Syn. Psilotrichum ovatum, Moq^. 



Spec. Chae. Herbaceous: stem 2-feet, erect, taperingl 

 branches striated, pubescent in the axils of the leaves: leaves 

 short-petioled, ovate, glabrous above, pubescent below: spike- 

 lets solitary, 3 — 6-flowered, terminal ones very long-peduncled : 

 flowers somewhat thick, reddish-hoary : calyx 3 times as long as 

 the bracts. 



Madras. 



