OF INDIA AND CEYLON. 
247 
Primary axis small, non-floriferons. Thallus of phylogenetic root 
nature, closely attached to the rock by hairs and occasional haptera, 
narrow ribbon or thread-like flattened, endogenously branched in 
acropetal succession right and left, the branches appearing rather far 
back upon the thalli on the anterior side of the secondary shoots. 
Secondary shoots as in Hydrobryum, most ultimately floriferous. 
Bracts prostrate, thicker on upper side, usually about 6, scaly, with 
deciduous tips. Spathe as in Hydrobryum, splitting on upper side. 
Ceylon and S India, on smooth rocks in eddies and 
rapids, frequent. Two species. 
Fruit smooth, indéhiscent, com- 
pletely enclosed in persistent 
bracts, 2-seeded ...F metzgerioides, Willis. 
Fruit ribbed, dehiscent, anisolo- 
bous, shortly stalked, with 
four seeds ... ...F. indica, Willis. 
FABMEBIA METZGEBIOIDES (Trimen), Willis in 
Notes, Trimen’s FI. CeyL, V., 386, 1900; Podostemon 
metzgerioides, Trim., l.c. • 
Fruit sessile, smooth, indéhiscent, enclosed in the per- 
sistent bracts ; seeds *2. 
Thallus ribbon-like, often more or less zigzag, 2-4 mm. wide. 
Secondary shoots on upper edges and in posterior axils, at first with 
included axis and a few linear leaves 5-10 mm. long, later with 
exserted prostrate axis bearing 4-6 scaly bracts as in Hydrobryum. 
Spathe boat-shaped, splitting irregularly at tip and on upper side. 
Flower sessile, curved upwards. Stamen 1 , longer than gynæceum, 
exserted ; filament flat, anther cells divergent at base. Staminodes 
equalling ovary. Ovary more or less ellipsoid or globose, oblique, 
with swollen apical placenta and abortive lower loculus ; stigmas 
linear or subulate, long, exserted very early. Fruit obliquely globular, 
1 mm. long, smooth, with thin membranous wall, included among the 
persistent bracts and closely held against the rock, with large per- 
sistent placenta at upper end, two large seeds in fertile loculus, and a 
more or less flattened abortive loculus, indéhiscent. Seeds large, 
germinating in situ. 
Ceylon, endemic. In the Mahaweli-ganga, on rocks at 
Hakinda rapids, Trimen ! Willis ! Other non-flowering 
specimens which probably belong to this species have been 
found in the Kelani-ganga at Kitulgala, at the confluence of 
