Page:The Journal of Indian Botany.djvu/740

262 THE JOURNAL OF INDIAN BOTANY. Floral bracts black, bairy acute. (Khasia and North Burma, S. India Mountains, Malay and China) ..,, 22 E. Brownianum.

coloured when dry.
 * Bracts of the involucre pale, straw-

Scapes to 20 in. ; heads 1/2 in. ; female sepals unequal, visible beyond the floral bracts. (Malabar) ... 27 E. lanceolatum.

Scapes 6-10 in. ; heads J to f in. ; female petals clawed ; floral bracts white, outer nearly glabrous. (Burma and Andamans) ... 26 E. Wightianum.

Scapes 8-12 in. ; female petals oblanceo- late, without glands ; floral bracts blackish... 24 E. gracile.

22. E. Brownianum Mart. (Wall. Cat. 6066 in Herb. Calc !) ; F.B.I, vi, 576, No. 18 ; Ruhl. No. 117 and E. nilagirense No. 93. Leaves narrow about I in. wide and 15-20 in. long, glabrous or hairy, as also the scapes which are about as long. Heads 1/3 — 1/2 in. Involucre pale, glabrous or hairy. Female flower-Sepals dark, deeply boat-shaped, scabrid on the keel. Petals narrow, with long hairs and large glands Seeds oval, dark brown. Plate 17.

Var. a typica leaves and involucre often (but not always) glabrous, Assam ; Silhet (type), Khasia ; Burma ; Manipur.

Var. b nilagirense Steud. Whole plant hairy and more robust than the type. Leaves usually shorter and broader, but sometimes narrow. Scapes stout and hairy. Heads 1 inch flat or hemispheric. Involucre black, hairy. Female flower: — Sepals less deeply boatshaped Petals a little broader ; otherwise as in the type. See Fig. p. 263.

S. India and Ceylon at high elevations.

Very common in semi-dry or marshy land at about 7000 ft., forming usually dense tufts a foot or more across. The flowers smell strongly of honey and are visited by small butterflies. The name suggests that this is a variety confined to these regions, but in Herb. Calcutta are sheets from Khasia hardly if at all different. Hooker was the first I think to reduce Steudel's species to E. Brownianum Mart. Koerniche considered it closest to E. Wightianum.

Var. c macrophyllum Ruhl. 1c. No. 95.

Malay Peninsula.

Var. b was founded by Steudel as a distinct species, but reduced by Hooker to E. Brownianum. It was restored to specific rank by Ruhland and because the type has glabrous involucre is separated in his clavis by 24 species,