beautifulflowers032840mbp

182 BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS OF KASHMIB [Plate 61
the male and usually neutral flowers between the two sexual
zones. If the spadix is prolonged beyond the flowers, that
barren tail-like or club-shaped appendage is called appendix.
There are neither sepals nor petals.
A. Leaves of 3 leaflets.
I. Limb of spathe broad ... ... A. utile.
II. Limb of spathe oblong or lanceshaped
(fig. o) ... A. Wallichianum.
B. Leaves of 5-18 pedately arranged leaflets,
I. Appendage far exserted (fig. 4) ... A. tortuosum.
II. Appendage included in the spathe A. ftavum.
C. Leaves of 5-7 whorled leaflets... ... A. Jacquemontii.
Arisaema utile, Hook. f.
(Utile means useful.)
An erect herb. Leaves consisting of 3 leaflets, solitary ;
leaflets, stalkless, rhombic-egg-shaped or inversely egg-shaped,
crenate, pale green with wavy golden margins. Limb of
spathe 4 in. broad or less, broadly and inversely heart-shaped
or inversely egg-shaped, notched or 2-lobed, with a short
interposed tail that embraces the filiform tail of the naked
appendage, not longer than the tube, red-brown or purplish,
coarsely netted. Appendage a tortuous, very thin tail, 1-3 ft.
long.
Sexes on different plants.
Locality. At elevations of 7,500 ft. ;
below Tosh Maidan.
Distribution. Temperate Himalaya, from Kashmir to
Sikkim, 9,000-13,000 ft.
Fig. 3. Arisaema Wallichianum, Hook. f.
Tuber depressed. Stems ll-2 ft. high. Leaf solitary, consisting
of 3 leaflets ;
leaflets stalkless, broadly egg-shaped,
short-pointed, the side ones oblique, 3^-10 by 2i-7 in., the
middle one round, 3-7i by 2|-9 in. Leaf-stalk 6-12 in.
Spathe-tube dark green on a pale ground, ribbed ;
limb oblong
or lance-shaped, abruptly contracted in a short, tail-like tip,
the centre dark purple striped, the margins chequered with
pale green veins. Spadix prolonged in a very slender, farprotruding,
purple, tail-like appendage. Sexes on different
plants.
Flowers.
June.
Locality. Gulmarg, woods and thickets, above 8,000 ft.,
common.