19 ° Baker. — A Synopsis of the 
placed opposite the free sepal. Ovary inferior, globose, 3-celled ; 
ovules solitary in the cells, erect ; style filiform ; stigma capitate. 
Fruit indehiscent, often by abortion 2- or 1 -celled. Seeds with 
an intruded testa, firm albumen, and straight embryo. — Stem 
erect, sheathed by the petioles of the non-distichous leaves. 
Panicle formed of several umbels of flowers, placed in the axils 
of the brightly-coloured lanceolate or ovate branch-bracts. 
Flowers various in colour. Fruit small, usually blue. Kuntze 
employs for the genus the name Bihai , used by Philip Miller in 
1739 and Adanson in 1771. 
Key to the Species. 
Subgenus Platychlamys. Branch-bracts ovate-acuminate, deeply 
boat-shaped, as in H. Bihai. 
Branch-bracts crowded on the rachis. 
Branch-bracts ascending .... Sp. 1. 
Branch-bracts spreading .... Sp. 2-5. 
Branch-bracts spaced out on the rachis. 
Branch-bracts very hairy .... Sp. 6-7. 
Branch-bracts glabrous Sp. 8-12. 
Subgenus Stenochlamys. Branch-bracts lanceolate-acuminate, shal- 
lowly boat-shaped, as in H. psittacorum. 
Leaves large ....... Sp. 13-20. 
Leaves small. 
Leaves green beneath ..... Sp. 21-26. 
Leaves purple beneath ..... Sp. 27. 
Leaves farinose beneath . .... Sp. 28-29. 
Subgenus Platychlamys. 
1. H. episcopalis, Veil. FI. Flum. Ill, t. 22; Peters, in FI. Bras. Ill, 
pt. 3, t. 2 ; H. Ferdinando- Coburgi, Szys. in Wawra, Iter Princ. 
Sax.-Cob. II, 88, t. 5 ; H. biflora , Eich. ; H. thyrsoidea , Mart. 
Whole plant 6-7 ft. long. Leaves oblong, the lower 2-3 ft. 
long, 8-10 in. broad, rounded at the base, green and glabrous 
beneath. Peduncle long, stiffly erect, glabrous. Panicle dense, 
oblong, 3—4 in. long; branch-bracts 6—18, ovate, acute, bright 
red, glabrous, ascending, much imbricated, 2-3 in. long, 1 1 in. 
round at base, deeply boat-shaped ; rachis quite hidden. 
Flowers 2-6 in a cluster, whitish, under 2 in. long ; pedicels 
