259
THE INDIAN SPECIES OF ERIOCAULON
By P. F. Fyson, M.A., F.L.S.,
Presidency College, Madras.
(Continued from p. 207,)
20. E. Dianae Fyson, sp. nov. (Fyson. No. 3819 at Eudrasiri) Caulis perbrevis. Folia lanceolata, 3-7 cm. longa, 4-6 mm. lata, plana, glabra. Pedunculi complures, 7-15 cm. aut longiores, glabra. Capitula 5-8 cm. hemi-spherica ; bractae involucrantes sfcramineas and glabrae, quam capitulo longiores aut soquantes, aut demum reflexae. Bractae flores superantes obovato-cuneatae, summo-dorse puberulae, viridi nigrescentes. Flores trimeri. Flos & : sepala in spatham antica fissam, connata, antherae nigraa- Flos % : sepala inaequalia, duo navicularia dorso puberula, unum planum, lanceolatum aut linearium, et quam ceteris brevius. Plate 11.
Peninsular India ; Western Ghats from Mt. Abu and Bombay to Calicut.
I include in this species a large number of forms the extremes of which are sufficiently distinct to be considered good species, were it not for the intermediates which grade into each other, for even the 7 varieties given below are not easily separated.
- Bractae involucrantes quam capitulo longiores.
1 ? floris tertius sepalum planum, oblanceolatum.
Var. a typica. Bractae involucrantes quam capitulo longiores, femini floris tertium sepalum planum. Plate 12.
Salsette to S. Kanara.
A beautiful little plant, the tips of the involucral bracts showing beyond the margin of the head when seen from above. The head itself may be nearly flat, hemispherical, globose, or even ovoid taller than broad, depending apparently on local conditions. The third female sepal is flat but not much shorter than the others and not linear as in the other varieties. The larger heads can be distinguished only by the female sepals (the two larger being much more boat-shaped and the third flat) from E. quinquangulare L.
1 I £ floris tertius sepalum linearium
Var. b longi-bracteatz. Bractae involucrantes quam capitulo mul- to longiores ; floris sepalum tertius latum aut linearium. Calicut. Plate 13.
Leaves 2-2| in. by £ in. and scapes about twice as long. Heads I in. diam. with bracts spreading below over * in, across in all.
