Flora indica, or, Descriptions of Indian plants : reprinted literatim from Carey's edition of 1832 / by the late William Roxborough.
- William Roxburgh
- Date:
- 1874
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Flora indica, or, Descriptions of Indian plants : reprinted literatim from Carey's edition of 1832 / by the late William Roxborough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
17/844
![Phryuium. imbricated, truncate, many-toothed. _ _ . PUtuli-fKilii, the vernacular name iu Chittagong, where it is common in its wild state. Flowers iu March and April and the seeds ripen in August. Root tuberous, Ac., as in other scitamineous plants. Stem none. Leaves radical, long- petioled, from oblong, to broad laneeolar, tapering nearly as much at tlie base as at the apex, smooth, entire, finely aeuaiinate ; twelve to twenty-four inches long, by four to eight broad. Petioles longer t han the leaves, cylitnlrie, smooth, the flower-bearing ones have a hairy joint near the middle, and from the joint up, a slit of between two and three iuelies in length opens on one side for the spike, its margins thin and hairy. Spike solitary, short-peduncled, simple, linear-oblong, three to four inches long, imbricated. Braetes .- exterior oval, trun- cate, with the transverse apex many-toothed, smooth, each embracing several small, pale, pink flow ers, which expand in succession. Inner braetes small, and membranaceous. Calyx, corol, and stamen, as in P. parviflorvm. Germ tliree-celled, with one ovulum in each, attached to the bottom of its cell. Style, as in the other species, it grows to, and is blended with the tube of the corol, its apex free, thick und hooked. Stigma gaping, obliquely toward the anther. Capsule oblong, size of a large Held bean, rugose, three-celled, three-valved, opening from the apex. Seeds solitary, sitting on a partial aril, and attached to the bottom of the cell ; external tunic hard, brown, and polished. Perisperm conform to the seed. Embryo erect, simple, the apex hooked. It id tele inferior, close to the umbilicus of the seed. 6 Ay. Tlie simple, short-peduuciod, imbricated, linear-oblong spike, bursting from the middle of the petiole, readily points it out. 5. P. parviflorum. 8. Stemless. Leaves radical. Heads of flowers petiolarv ; bracles acute. A native of the eastern parts of Bengal. With P. capitatum, it blossoms about the beginning of the rains. Boot tuberous, horizontal, hairy, in other respects a* in P. capitatum, Ac. Leaves long-petioled, elliptieally oval, polished, entire, short, acute, pointed. Heads of flowers sub- globular, sessile, always bursting from the inner side of the petioles, near, or above their middle, composed of many, imbricated sessile, distichous, compact, simple, or compound spikes. Braetes ; tin* exterior two are broad-ovate, and common to the,, whole head ; the rest within smaller ; all aro smooth, and end in a small, rigid, acute point. Flowers in pairs, small, nearly inconspicuous, yellow. Calyx, corol, and stamen, as in eapitatum. Germ short qiedicelled, smooth, but hairy round the insertion of the calyx, three-celled, and in this species 1 liave only found one of the cells fertile, in it is one ovulum, attached to the bottom of the cell. In capitatum all the three cedis are fertile. Style as in the other species.it grows to the tube of the corol, its apex free and hooked. Stigma infundibuliform. - —6. 1*. capitatum. Linn. sp. pi. ed. Il’illd. ]. 17. Stemless. Leaves radical, long-petioled, oblong. Heads of flowers petiolary and ter- minal, glomerate. Braetes truncate, iucurvate. Naru-killa. Rheed. Mol. 11. p. 67. t. 34. Phyllodes Plaeentaria. Lour. Cochin Ch. 16. 17. Kudali. Betty, which also signifies a Plantain. A native of Chittagong, and of various other parts of India. From the former place it was sent to the Botanic garden at Calcutta, by l)r. Buchanan in 1767. Flowering time the rainy season, the seeds ripen in the cool season. Root perennial, tuberous like ginger, with long, fleshy fibres from the crown, and vari- ous other parts. Stem none. Leaves radical, long-petioled, oblong, entire, smooth on both sides ; from six to eighteeu inches long, nnd broad in proportion. Feins numerous, fine and parallel. Petioles longer than the leaves, slender, round, smooth, taper a little from the base, and are there expended into a sheath for those immediately within ; such as are des- tined to bear the flowers have a joint a little above the middle ; immediately above this joint there is a swelling, which in due time is forced open on the inside by the growing flowers exactly us in our Indian species of Pontederia. It however sometimes appears, and even in the same plant, that some of the petiole*, now scapes, extend no further than the flowers, I lowers numerous, collected into a pretty large, se-<ile head, which hursts fix m the anterior margin of the jointed petioles, small, and nearly hid among the large braetes ; when they first expand in the morning rose-coloured, gradually lieeotning purple by tho evening. Braetes, calyx of Louriero’s Phyllodes, several, collecting the small sessile flowers into several fasciculi ot two, three, or four pair, each of which expand in succession. The exterior one of each fascicle is largo, suh-cylindrie, of a firm texture, nnd reddish colour ; apices truncate, w ith scariosc, incurved margin ; the rest are smaller, and more or less pointed. Calyx superior, three-leaved ; leaflets ensifonn, length of the tube of the corol, hairy about the points, ( oral one-petalled. Tube funnel-shaped, scarcely perforated. Bor- < ei double ; exterior of three, equal, purple, spatulate, reenrvate segments ; interior more < c\ntod on n continuation of the tulie, and consists of five, very unequal segments; tho exterior two larger, round, curled, and of a pale rose colour ; the innermost one small, and running down the side of the filament like a wing. Filament solitary, short, inserted oil the mouth of the tube close by the free, curved end of t he style. Anther simple ; groins of the pollen white, large, and spherical. Germ inferior, oblong, very short pedirolled, hairy, irii r e << , with one ovulum in inch, attached to the lmtlotn of its cell. Style growing o, or > cn et with tho tulie of the oornl. Stigma large, funnel sham'd, obliquely-incurved or hooked towards the anther. Capsule short, turbinate, three-sided, pretty smooth, size of a gooseberry, tlirec-cellcd, three-valved, opening from the apex. Seed solitary, nearly v y 1 y ,, MONAXDRU MOSOOTNIA. iSAint vMfr* fnlfcV i nh/Mu- Page Carey Ed. 1. 7 I. 8 I.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28120024_0017.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
