184 Podostemacece. 



by the base, 2-celled, subdidymous, dehiscing longitudinally internally. 

 Pollen constricted in the middle. Ovary superior, sessile, ovate, glabrous, 

 8-sulcate, 2-celled. Ovules numerous, ascending. Style nearly none : stigma 

 fleshy, at length deciduous, deeply 2-lobed, lobes conico-subulate, un- 

 equal, divaricate. Capsule ovate, about 1-line long, deeply 8-sulcate, 

 2-celled, 2-valved, with a septicidal dehiscence. Placenta complanate, 

 adhering to the dissepiment, all of which ultimately become free. Seeds 

 numerous, small, ascending, ovate : testa thick, mucilaginous when 

 moist. Embryo exalbaminous, orthotropous : cotyledons plano-convex: 

 radical inferior, directed towards the hilum, obtuse, twice longer than 

 the cotyledons : plumule inconspicuous. 



Obser. — Of this species I have a fine set of specimens in 

 fruit from Dr. Wight, who received them from Griffith. It 

 is very distinct from any of the species with which I am 

 acquainted, and forms a transition from the foregoing species 

 to those which follow. The fronds are nearly erect, very 

 much abbreviated, the branches broad, and the flowers 

 though they arise from the disk, are somewhat marginal. 



5. PODOSTEMON SUBULATUM. Gardn. 



P. frondibus rigidis erectis teretibus dichotomo-ramosis, 

 ramis dense floriferis, floribus distichis, squamis solitariis 

 valde elongatis subulatis coriaceis, spatha 3-4-lobata scabra, 

 capsula 8-costata. 



Hab. — On stones in the bed of the Mahawelle Ganga, near 

 Holnicut, district of Ambegamoa, Ceylon. Fl. February. 



Descr. — Fronds coriaceous, cylindrical, erect, dichotomously branched, 

 one or two inches long. Flowers distichous, closely imbricated, each 

 subtended by a single subulate coriaceous scale about three inches 

 long, of a brownish colour, and with a dilated sheathing base. Spathe 

 clavate, scabrous, about 3-lines long, irregularly 3-4-lobed at the apex. 

 Pedicels at length 3-4-lines long, covered with a coat of pellucid cellular 

 tissue, which falls off after flowering. Floral envelopes none. Stamens 

 4, hypogynous, unilateral, the two lateral ones abortive, setaceous, com- 

 planate, and about two-thirds shorter than the intermediate ones, which 



