152 



rounded, the cells collateral , towards the front of the connective and appar- 

 ently introrse. Rudimentary style very minute, shortly pyramidal, 3-lobed, 

 connate below. $ : Spike pendulous, 1-2 to the leaf-axil, simple or rarely 

 few-branched, glabrous, laxly flowered ; rachis slender, a little flexuous, 

 triquetrous with smooth edges, attaining about 27 cm. in length. Flower 

 small, very shortly pedicellate, 2-bracteate, placed in the right angle to 

 the rachis, solitary or rarely binate, about 5 mm. across ; bracts minute, 

 sharply subulate, membranaceous. Perianth 6-parted, patent, light-green, 

 glabrous, thickish ; the outer 3 linear-oblong, obtuse ; the inner 3 very slightly 

 broader than the outer ones and clavately dilated at the apex. Rudiment- 

 ary stamens 6, minute, clavate, 2— fid at the top, opposite to the perianth- 

 lobes and situated at their bases. Style erect, shorter than the perianth, 

 divergingly 3-lobed at the top ; stigma slightly dilated, longitudinally groov- 

 ed. Ovary terete and triangular with entire edges, shallowly 2 grooved 

 in faces, longer than the perianth, 3J-4J mm. in length. Capsule ascending 

 on the pendulous rachis, shortly pedicellate, emarginate and crowned with 

 persistent perianth at the apex, broadly rounded at the base, 3-winged, 

 1-1-2 cm. long, 1-1^ cm. across, smooth, green, margined with thin narrow 

 and smooth edges, with subcoriaceous thin carpels. Seeds 2 in each 

 loculament, compressed, rounded to obovate-elliptical, winged above ; wing 

 elliptical to oblong, rounded at apex, thinly membranaceous, brown. 



Dioscorea sativa Miq. Prol. Fl. Jap. p. 323, ex parte ; Franch. et Sav. 

 Eiium. PI. Jap. II. p. 47, ex parte; Kanitz Anthoph. Jap. p. 9, non Linn. 



Dioscorea sp. Makino in Bot. Mag., Tokyo, II. 1888, p. 26. 



Kai, vulgo Tolxoro Kfempf. Amcen. Exot. p. 827. 



Hab. Prov. Tosa : Sakawa (T. Mahino ! July, Aug. Oct. 1887), Ogawa- 

 mura (T. Makino ! July 22, 1887), Nanokawa (K. Watanabe ! Herb. Sc. 

 Coll. Imp. Univ. Tokyo, July 15, 31, 1889) ; Prov. Musashi : Tokyo (T. 

 Mahino ! Aug. 6, 1893 ; It. Yatabe and Z. MaUumura ! Herb. 1. c. July 6, 

 1879), Omiya-hachiman (H. Yatabe and Z. Matsumural Herb. 1. c. July 6, 

 1879), Dokwan-yama (//. Yatabe and Z. MatsumuraX Herb. I.e. Sept. 28, 

 1879), Hachiozi (T. Makinql Oct. 28, 1899), Shibuya (T. Makino ! July 23, 

 1901); Prov. Sagami: Hakone (T. Makinol Sept. 24, 1886); Prov. Shimoosa: 

 Mama (T. Makino ! Aug. 8, 1888); Prov. Hitachi: Kihara (Herb.! 1. a); 

 Prov. Shimotsuke: Nikko (R. Yatabe I Herb. 1, c. July 28, 1877); Prov. 

 Ise : Komono (Herb. 1. c. Aug. 6, 1883) ; Prov. Suruga : Murayama {R. 

 Yatabe and Z. Matsumura\ Herb. 1. c. July 27, 1881); Prov. Uzen : 

 Between Mt. Gassan and Mt. Haguro {R. Yatabe and S. Okubol Herb. 



