Page:The Journal of Indian Botany.djvu/644

202 14. E. Thwaitesii Koern. (0. P. 790 and 769 in Herb. Kew. and 790 in Herb. Calc.!); F.B.I, vi, 583, No. 40; Ruhl. No. 171. Leaves 1/2-2 in. oblong acute, flat. Scapes many, 1-6 in. of various heights. Heads 1/14-1/3 in. at first obconic, later truncate, dark gray. Involucral bracts very obtuse, pale. Receptacle hairy. Female sepals 3, equal and boat-shaped or 1 smaller or 2 only. Petals 3, very slender and bearing long hairs from near the base. Seeds oblong, brown.

Ceylon; South India on the Pulneys; Anamalais and Nilgiris.



D.R.F.

The plants vary much in size. Those from higher levels on the Pulneys are much smaller than the type, even only 1/2 in. high. They were described by me in Kew Bulletin 1914 as a new species, E. Mariæ, and figured in my Flora of the Nilgiri and Pulney Hill tops under that name, since the female sepals are 3 equally boat shaped instead of 2. But I find a plant C. P. 790 in Herb. Calc. the collection quoted by Koerniche Linnaea xxvii p. 627 as in part his type, has the female sepals 3 but unequal, one being flat; and plants from 5,000 ft. on the Pulneys, in no other way distinguishable from what purports to be Koerniches type at Kew, with 3 sepals equal. It seems therefore that this is another instance of the sepals varying within the species, (c. f. E. truncatum Ham). At the same time since I do not find them spongey at the back, as described by Koerniche I may be wrong in so identifying these plants.

15. E. achiton Koern. (Clarke in Herb. Calc.); F.B.I, vi 584, No. 42; Ruhl. No. 189. A smaller plant than E. Thwaitesii. Leaves narrow, almost linear about 1 inch. Scapes: twice as long slender.