232 
WILLIS : PODOSTB]MACBÆ 
Flower naked, zygomorphic, emerging from erect or ascending spathe 
ruptured irregularly at the tip. Stamens 2, monadelphous, with stami- 
node at either side of common filament. Pollen didymous. Ovary 
very oblique ; stigmas 2, simple, subulate or more or less toothed or 
lobed, with small papillæ. Capsule perfectly smooth, usually nearly 
spherical, unequally lobed, splitting obliquely into a larger persistent 
and a smaller deciduous lobe. 
Primary axis not known. Thallus phylogenetically of root nature, 
of the most various form, most commonly like the smaller Dicræas, but 
sometimes cup-like, or rotate on a stalk, or completely attached and 
creeping ribbon-like ; size usually small, but in the creeping forms to 
20 cm. across. Secondary axes co, on the margins or less often on the 
central parts, endogenous, at first vegetative only with included axis 
and a few exserted leaves, later mostly 1-floriferous with distichous 
scaly bracts, 4-7 in number, formed by the expansion of the sheathing 
bases and the fall of the tips of the last leaves, more or less cowl- or 
helmet-shaped. Spathe tubular to broadly funnel-shaped, erect, split- 
ting irregularly at the tip. 
S.W. India, from the Bombay Ghats to S. Kanara. 
Tnlasne included the only known species in Mniopsis as 
a sub-genus Griffithella characterized by a frondiform thallus 
and simple stigmas, Weddell transferred it to Podoste- 
mon, § Griffithella, in which he also placed Hydrobryum 
Johnsonii, giving as the characters of the section “ Caulis 
frondiformis incumbens. Spathella tubulosa, vel ovoidea, 
apice hians.” Hydrobryum Johnsonii is in reality quite 
different from the plant under consideration, having a ribbed 
fruit, and a spathe splitting on the upper side. Tulasne’s 
position is more nearly natural, it seems to me, than Wed- 
dell’s. Hooker, in his Indian Flora, places Podostemon 
Hookerianus in his § Polypleurum, characterized as having 
“ stems dilated frond-like ; flower buds scattered or sub- 
marginal with few scales,” and again puts it near to the 
Hydrobryums. Undoubtedly it has relationships to the 
latter genus, as well as to Mniopsis, but for the present I 
am inclined to follow Warming, and give it an independent 
genus, though with some hesitation. Two species have been 
described, but without more material from many localities 
I am inclined to regard these as only varietally distinct at 
most. 
