stiff, straight, angular. Leaves scattered, near, spreading, 
oblique, tapered downwards, obtuse at the point, veiny 
with three raised nerves, smooth, persistent, not of a very 
deep green colour: petioles very short, jointed, protuberant 
. at the joint and wrinkled, decurrent. Spikes resembling cat- 
kins, generally in pairs, much shorter than the leaf, spread- 
ing, sessile, cylindrical: peduncles flowerbearing their whole 
length, bracteate. lowers sessile, close, scentless, lemon- 
coloured, chiefly with both stamens and pistils, sometimes 
with only stamens. Bractes simple, one at the base of each 
peduncle and of each flower, oval, concave, membranous, 
reddish, caducous, those of the spikes twice the length of 
_ those of the flowers. Calyx campanulate, membranous, pale 
yellow, five-toothed, three times shorter than the corolla. 
Petals five, affixed to the lowermost part of the calyx, oval, 
acute, upright, recurved. ilaments numerous, inserted at 
the bottom of the calyx below the petals, grown together at 
the base into a ring, free and distinct all the way, from 
thence diverging into globular tufts, capillary, twice the 
length of the petals and of the same colour: anthers round- 
ish, upright, lemon-coloured, very small, two-lobed. Ger-. 
men detached, whitish, oval, pubescent: style growing on 
one side of it, overtopping the stamens, straight, capillary: 
stigma a simple obtuse point. 
Both the above descriptions are principally collected 
from the French in M. Ventenat’s work. 
