Podostemacea. 189 



small fascicles towards the extremities of the fronds, flattened, setace- 

 ous, 2|-3-lines long. Flowers marginal, solitary. Scales 4-5, distich- 

 ous, imbricated, scaphoid, obtuse, from 2-3-lines long. Spathe clavate, 

 glabrous, bursting irregularly at the apex, about l|-line long. Pe- 

 dicels cylindrical, 3-lines long, covered with a thin coat of deciduous 

 cellular tissue. Floral envelopes none. Stamens 4, hypogynous, unila- 

 teral, the two lateral filaments abortive, setaceo-complanate, nearly 

 a half longer than the intermediate ones, which are fertile, and uni- 

 ted nearly to the apex, forming a linear column about 2-lines long, each 

 fork of which bears a single anther : anthers 2-celled, introrse, dehis- 

 cing longitudinally, cells oblong, disunited, the internal one a little 

 shorter than the external. Pollen yellow, constricted in the middle. 

 Ovary superior, sessile, glabrous, covered with the same deciduous cel- 

 lular tissue as the pedicel, obsoletely 8-sulcate, 2-celled. Ovules numer- 

 ous, ascending. Style none : stigma sessile, deeply 2-lobed, lobes diva- 

 ricate, at length deciduous. Capsule oblong, about 1 |-line long, deep- 

 ly 8-sulcate, 2-celled, 2-valved, with a septicidal dehiscence. Placentce 

 flattened, attached to the dissepiment, the whole of which at length be- 

 come free. Seeds numerous, ascending, small, flattened, roundish : testa 

 membranous, mucilaginous when moist, of a yellowish-brown colour. 

 Embryo exalbuminous, dicotyledonous, orthotropous : radical inferior, 

 directed towards the hilum, shorter than the colyledons. 



Obser. — A very different species from any of the other 

 Indian ones, being remarkable from the great length of the 

 slender fronds, which, when a mass of them are together, 

 resemble the tail of a horse, and from the existence of leaves 

 which occur in fascicles towards the extremities of the 

 fronds. The capsule frequently only splits on one side. 



Kandy : \9th April, 1846. 



