Herieris.] flora indica. 223 



ill Bot. Reg. N.S. xiv. t. 46. B. umbellata, Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 1844. t. 

 44, non Wall. mss. 



y. wicrantha ; foliosa, foliis valde coriaceis obovato-lanceolatis lan- 

 ceolatisve (1-3-pollicaribus) grosse spinuloso-dentatis, racemis elon- 

 gatis nutantibiis, floribus parvis. — Wall. Cat. sub 1474! 



Hab. Per totam Himalayam temperatam, a Bhotan usque ad Kuna- 

 war, alt. 6-10,000 ped. ; et in montibus Nilgliiri et Zeylanise, alt. 6- 

 7000 ped. — a. normalis. Vulgatissima a Nipalia ! ad Sirmur ! sed non 

 in Sikkim visa. — ^. Jloribunda. Kumaon et Garhwal, alt. 7700-9500 

 ped., /S^n et Wint.! Simla, alt. 9000 ped.! Kunawar, Munro ! — y. mi- 

 crantJia. Nipal, Wall.! Gavhwal ! Sikkim, alt. 9000 ped.! Bhotan, Grif- 

 Jilh ./—(El. vere.) {v. v.) 



This plant we regard as only less variable than B. vulgaris, from which its gene- 

 rally much more coriaceous leaves, more fascicled flowers of the raceme, and the 

 long style and small stigma, best distinguish it. Several forms are known in our 

 gardens, of which B. CMtria and B. aristata are the most marked, but these are cer- 

 tainly not specifically distinct. In the Himalaya wc find far too many intermediate 

 slates to admit of our separating them even as varieties, and we believe that they are 

 chiefiy due to humidity for their characters. The B. tindoria of the Nilghiri moun- 

 tains and Ceylon is another form which sometimes appears distinct, but we have 

 many specimens from those countries wholly undistinguishable from the Himalayan 

 ones. 



a. normalis. The leaves vary much in size, and the small-leaved specimens from 

 Simla, having often smaller flowers too (and which might as well have been included 

 under var. micrantha), are identical with both Nilghiri and Ceylon individuals. The 

 handsomest state of this variety is the Kumaon one known in gardens as B. Chitria, 

 Ham., with broad elliptical, almost entire, green, veined leaves, often 34 inches long, 

 and racemose panicles 4 inches long, beaiing fascicles of flowers -J inch in diameter ; 

 it has dark berries i-f- inch long, often thickly covered with bloom. The state 

 figured by Ker in the ' Botanical Magazine,' with lanceolate spinnlose leaves and 

 numerous pendulous racemes, is a very slight deviation from this. This form {B. 

 Chitna) inhabits Nepal, Kumaon, Garhwal, and Sirmore ; we have it not from 

 Sikkim, nor from the peninsula. It is scarcely an evergreen, though the leaves 

 remain for a long time. In the peninsular and Ceylon plant {B. tinctoria) the 

 leaves are li-2 inches long, veined, vary from orbicular to obovate and lanceolate, 

 are all aristate and more or less spinnlose, and often very glaucous below. It was 

 originally referred to B. aristata by Lindley in the 'Penny Cyclopedia;' its style 

 is sometimes a line long. It is frequently an evergreen. A host of subvarieties of 

 var. normatis, often grafted on vulyaris, but which keep their liabit for a certain 

 length of time in gardens, are referable to states of the Nipal and lai-ge-leaved form 

 called Chitria, of the veiy glaucous evergreen peninsular plant called tinctoria, and 

 of the small lanceolate-leaved Simla one, the angustifolia of Roxburgh. 



^. Jloriiunda. Many specimens of this appeared to be so distinct from var. a, nor- 

 malis, that we at first hesitated about uniting them ; we find, however, not only that 

 they are connected by every intermediate grade, but that several Himalayan bota- 

 nists well acquainted with their forms have preceded us in uniting them. The very 

 regularly racemose disposition of the flowers is its best character, hut on some of 

 Strachey and Winterbottom's and WaUich's specimens both fasciculate and corymbose 

 and racemose flowers occur, and sometimes on the same specimen. The pedicels of 

 the flowers also vary extremely, from i-J inch long, are cither slender, or stouter 

 and almost fleshy, and are green or very glaucous. The flowers arc usually pale, the 

 petals bifid ; berry shortly oblong, very glaucous, its style distinct. The B. coriaria 

 of Boyle appears to us undoubtedly this plant, differing only in the lanceolate leaves 

 :md red fruit without bloom, characters of no importance. The name Chitria was 



