beautifulflowers032840mbp

Plate 57] HEBMINIUM ALETRIS 165
the base. Spike f to 2 in. long, lax-flowered. Flowers very
small, few, almost erect, green ;
floral bract almost round,
much shorter than the ovary. Dorsal sepal round, forming
with the petals a hood, lateral pair very broad, blunt. Petals
smaller, concave, the edges scalloped. Lip as long as the
lateral sepals, fleshy, base expanded and with 2 deep oval
pits, front portion dagger-shaped.
Flowers. August.
Locality. Above Gulmarg, about 12,000 ft.
Distribution. From Kashmir to Garhwal, between 14,000
and 15,000 ft., Sikkim.
HAEMODORACEAE.
(After the genus Haemodorum ;
haima means blood, and doron gift,
so-called on account of the blood-red roots.)
ALETRIS, Linn.
(From the Greek aletron, meal, alluding to the powdery appearance
of some species.)
Fig. 7. Aletris nepalensis,
Hook. f.
A small herb. Leaves radical, grass-like, 3-8 by ^-i in.,
5-7-nerved. Flowering stems leafless, 4-12 in. high, glandularhairy
or woolly above, bearing 1 or 2 short leaves near the
top. Kaceme or spike 1-4 in. long, few- or many-flowered.
Bracts linear, erect. Flowers white or pale pink. Perianth
j in. long ;
lobes short, blunt, bent back. Lower half of
ovary attached to the perianth-tube ; ovules many in each
cell. Stamens 6, on the bases of the lobes. Style shorter
than the stamens, 3-parted at the top. Fruit globose, opening
by 3 valves. Seeds many, very small, oblong.
Flowers. June to August.
Locality. Above Thajwas.
Distribution. Temperate and alpine Himalaya, from
Kashmir to Bhutan, 10,000-15,000 ft., China.