Gelosia.] oxvi. AMABANTACEiE. (J. D. Hooker.) 715 



Stem 1-3 ft., stout or slender, simple or branched. Leaves 1-6 in., narrow. Spikes 

 solitary, few or many, 1-8 by |-1 in. ; peduncle slender j flowers white, glistening j 

 bracts much shorter than the acute sepals. — The top of the spike sometimes branches 

 out in a cock's-comb form. 



2. C. cristata, JLinn. ; annual, glabrous, erect, leaves from linear to 

 ovate acute or acuminate, spikes oylindric, flowers ^-J in., style filiform. 

 Moq^. in BO. Prodr. xiii. 2, 242 ; Boxb. Fl. Ind. i. 679, and Ed. Wall. Sf 

 Carey, ii. fi08 ; Wall. Cat. 6918 ; Grah. Cat. Bomh. PI. 168 ; Balz. Sc Oibs. 

 Bomb. Fl. 215. 0. cernua, Roxb. I. o. 680, and Fd. Carey Sf Wall. 509 ; 

 Wall. Cat. 6919; Wight Ic. 730. 0. cristata, Linn.; Lamh. IZi. 1. 168; 

 Wall. Cat. 6918. 0. coccinea, lAnn. ; Bot. Reg. t. 1834. 0. comosa, Betz. 

 Obs. vi. 26 ; Andr. Bot. Bep. t. 635. 0. pyramidalis, Burnt. Fl. Ind. 65, 

 t.25. 



Throughout India, cultivated and as an escape. — Distbib. Tropical Asia, Africa 

 and America. 



Usually a tall branching plant, with broad ovate-lanceolate leaves, sometimes 9 in. 

 long and 3 broad, and much smaller flowers than C. cristata, but narrow-leaved 

 forms are difficult to distinguish. Roxburgh's .C. cernua is only a very narrow-leaved 

 strict form ; I doubt its being indigenous in the Rajmahal hills, where, aa Dr. King 

 informs me, there are traces of very old cultivations. — The sportiveness of this 

 species under cultivation, and its tendency to produce cock's-comb crests and feathery 

 branched yellow pink or rose fasciated ends of the spikes, have resulted in the 

 creation of many spurious species. Its native country, like that of O. argentea, of 

 which it is no doubt a form, is unknown. Burmann's C pyramidalis is referred by 

 Moquin to Chamissoa (AUmania), but the habit is totally dissimilar to that of an 

 Allmania, and quite that of C. cristata. 



** SpiTces very slender , flowers in distant chisters. Utricle obtuse, top 

 thickened; style short, stigmas %-i recurved. Seeds minute reniform. 



3. C. pulchella, Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 238 ; glabrous, leaves 

 petioled ovate acute. Wight Ic. t. 1768. 0. polygonoides. Wall. Cat. 6913. 



NiiQ-HiEi Hum ; in moist soil, Wight, &c. Ceylon, Walker, &c. j in hot drier 

 parts of the island, Thwaites. 



Slender, 2-3 ft. high, diffusely branched. Leaves lJ-2 in., membranous, base 

 cuneate truncate or subcordate ; petiole slender, l-lj in. Spikes 4-10 in., very 

 slender J clusters few-fld. ; flowers -^ in. long, white. Sepals ovate-oblong, acute. 

 Utricle flask-shaped, exserted. Seeds minute, reniform, black, opaque. 



4. C. polygronoides, Betz. Obs. ii. 12 ; branches glabrous or hispidu- 

 lous, leaves petioled vounded-ovate or -cordate obtuse. Oelosia trigyna, 

 Willd. ; Wall. Cat. 6915. 



Deccan Peninsttia ; in sandy soil, Mysore and the Carnatic, &c., Seyne, &c. 

 Cetlon ; north part of the island, &a^drier. 



Slender, 6-10 in. high ; stem woody below, diffusely branched. Leaves J-lf in. 

 long, often as broad, glabrous or very sparsely hairy, rarely cordate, tip rounded or 

 apionlate ; petiole as long as the blade. Spikes 3-5 in. ; clusters few-fld. ; flowers 

 li in. long, white. Sepals ovate-oblong, acute. Utricle flask-shaped, with a very 

 thick exserted head. — Very near the tropical African species. 



UNDETEEMINABLE SPECIES. 



C. AiLMANOiDBS, Moq. in -DC Prodr. xiii. 2, 243, from Ava, Wallich, is possibly 

 an Allmania. 



C. EXSTIPIJLATA, Somem. in Schrank Syllog. Satish. i. 202 ; Moq. I. c. 244.— 

 Nepal. 



