Page:The Journal of Indian Botany.djvu/640

198 THE JOURNAL OF INDIAN BOTANY alturo, glabruin. Flores tri-meres. Flos, o — eepala spathaceo-connata, nigra ; lobi corollae, sub-equales ; antherae nigrae. Flos % sepala 2 navieularia, 1 planum ; petala late-oblanceolata, glandulis magnis. Plate 4.

Assam, Sbilloog (Collett '.)

Species valde distincta. Descriptione, E. miserum Koern. similis, sed antberae ilius species flavescentes (Ruhland I.e. 68).

I have seen only one sheet. The densely tufted linear leaves, black when dry, suggest the name ' goats-beard'. The receptacle is tall and the heads nearly globose, not as usual by the involucral bracts being reflexed, but by their sloping upwards; but this may be because the heads are young. It answers fairly well to the descriptions both of E. mitophyllum Hook. f. and E. miserum Koern., as quoted in F.B.I, and in Ruhland (I.e.) ; except that in the former the receptacle is globose and in both the anthers white. In appearance too the plant is different from what I take below to be these species.

6. E. gregatum Koern.; F.B.I, vi 581, No. 33; Rubland No. 69. Stem slender, tufted, 1/2-1 in. Leaves 1-1-1/2 in. by 1/20 in., acute. Scapes solitary to eacb stem or branch, twice the leaves. Heads 1/8-1/6 in ; involucral bracts obtuse, pale with broad black margin. Female flower: sepals 3, two boat-shaped, one flat; petals broadly oblanceolate, obtuse with large glands. Male flowers normal. Plate 5.

Khasia at 4-5000 ft.

7. E. nepalense Prescott (Fide Clarke No. 44827 in Herb. Calc.) ; F.B.I, vi 581, No. 32 ; Ruhland No. 130. Stem short or O. Leaves flaccid, flat, tapering from 1/8-1/4 in. base, 2-3in. long, acute. Scapes many, twice as long. Heads 1/6-1/4 in. nearly globular when mature. Involucral bracts black acute, receptacle glabrous. Sepals 3 all boat-shaped. Female petals narrow hairy, seeds oblong with pappi- lose ribs. Plate 6.

Assam ; Khasia : and " from Garwhal to Sikkim." (F.B.I.) I have not seen the type sheet and am relying on Clarke's plant quoted above, which appears to agree with the description in the F.B I. The female petals in it have glands, but Ruhland (I.e.) says of the species that there are no glands.

8. E. Pumilio Hook. f. (Duthie No. 4473 in Herb. Dehra Dun !) F.B.I, vi 581, No. 34 ; Ruhl. p. 116 ' incognita '. Very small. Stem O, tufted. Leaves 1/4-1/2 in. acicular. Scapes 1 in. Heads 1/8. In- volucral bracts obtuse, pale nearly or quite horizontal. Floral bracts cuneate-cuspidafce, dark but hairy. Receptacle glabrous. Female fl : sepals 2, deeply boat shaped ; petals 3. Male fl : normal. Plate 7.

Western Himalayas at 3-4,000 ft. ; Kumaon and Gharwal at 8-9,000 ft. (F.B.I.) : Nr. Ramri.