Podostemacece. 181 



ous, orthotropous, white : cotyledons plano-convex : radical inferior, 

 directed towards the hilum : plumule inconspicuous. 



Obser. — Of this species I have seen no specimen. The 

 above description is translated and abridged from the detail- 

 ed one in the volume of the Asiatic Researches referred 

 to. The number of the costas of the capsule distinguishes it 

 easily from the two following species, to which it is other- 

 wise nearly related. 



2. PODOSTEMON OLIVACEUM. Gardn. 



P. frondibus decumbentibus suborbicularibus lobatis oli- 

 vaceis, floribus e parte superiore frondium exsertis, squamis 

 4 distichis imbricatis obtusis, spatha longitudinaliter de- 

 hiscens glabriuscula, 8-costata. 



Hab. — On Gneiss rocks in the bed of the Massnawatte 

 near Holnicut in the Ambegamoa district, in the Mahawelle 

 Ganga below Peradenia, and above the waterfall at Ram- 

 bodde, Ceylon. Fl. in February and March. 



Descr. — Fronds horizontal, growing on the flat surface of rocks in 

 large patches, irregularly and obtusely lobed, crustaceous, and of a 

 dark olivaceous color. Flowers solitary, arising without order from 

 the upper surface of the frond. Scales 6, distichously imbricated, the 

 internal ones about 1-line long, oblong, obtuse, and keeled externally. 

 Spathe clavate, green, about l|-line long, bursting by a single slit, 

 slightly scabrous externally under the lens. Pedicels cylindrical, about 

 1 1-line long, covered with a coat of pellucid cellular substance, which 

 falls off after flowering. Floral envelopes none. Stamens 4, hypogynous, 

 unilateral, and external with reference to the axis of the frond, the two 

 lateral ones abortive, setaceous, shorter than the two intermediate fertile 

 ones, which are about 2-lines long, and united nearly to the apex, each 

 fork bearing a single anther : anthers 2-celled, introrse, dehiscing longi- 

 tudinally, the cells distinct, and the internal one about one-half smaller 

 than the external. Pollen yellow, oblong, obtuse, constricted in the mid- 

 dle. Ovary superior, sessile, oblong, glabrous, green, covered with the 

 same green cellular substance as the pedicel, smooth, 2-celled. Ovules 



