Podostemacece. ] 83 



orly, but connected behind by a thin cellular connective, the external 

 one about twice as large as the internal. Pollen yellow, slightly con- 

 stricted in the middle- Ovary superior, sessile, ovate, glabrous, obtuse- 

 ly 8-sulcate, 2-celled. Ovules numerous, ascending : style none : stigma 

 fleshy, deeply and unequally 2-lobed, lobes divaricate, acute, at length 

 deciduous. Capsule about 1-line long, oval, deeply 8-sulcate, 2-celled, 

 2-valved, with a septicidal dehiscence. Placentce flattened, attached to 

 the dissepiment, the whole of which at length become free. Seeds 

 numerous, small, ascending, oblong; testa of a brownish colour, mem- 

 branous, mucilaginous when moistened. Embryo dicotyledonous, or- 

 thotropous : radical inferior directed towards the hilum. 



4. PODOSTEMON WALLICHII. R. Br. 



P. frondibus flabelliformibus irregulariter lobato-ramosis, 



floribus e parte superiore frondium exsertis submarginali- 



bus, squamis 5-7 distichis imbricatis ovatis subangulatis ob- 



tusis, spatha irregulariter lobata glabra, capsula 8-costata. 



Podostemon Wallichii, R. Br. in Wall. Cat. n. 5225 ; 



Griffith in Asiatic Researches 1-9. p. 103. t. 17- (left half). 



Lacis Wallichii, Stend nom. Bot. 2. p. 2 ; Dictr. Syn. 



Plant. 3. p. 272. 



Hab. — Mountains of Sylhet, Gomez. On rocks and stones 

 at the cataract of Churrapunje near Moosmai and Mamloos 

 in Assam, Griffith. Fl. October. 



Descr.— Frond somewhat flabelliform, ascending, irregularly lobed, 

 of a coriaceo-cartilaginous texture, and about one inch long. Flowers 

 solitary, arising from the margins of the upper surface of the fronds. 

 Scales 5-7 distichous, imbricated, of an irregular angular shape. SpatJie 

 tubular, dilated at the apex and irregularly lobed, glabrous. Pedicels 

 cylindrical, flexuose before the bursting of the spathe, at length about 

 4-lines long, covered with a coat of pellucid cellular substance which 

 falls off after flowering. Floral envelopes none. Stamens 4 (sometimes 5 

 according to Griffith) hypogynous, unilateral, the lateral ones abortive, 

 piano-setaceous, subspathulate at the apex ; the two intermediate ones 

 fertile; a little longer than the ovary, subterete, united nearly to the 

 apex, each fork bearing a single anther : anthers broadly ovate, fixed 



2 B 



