beautifulflowers032840mbp

PI. '48 A 48] BBITBIOHIUM CYNANOHUM 65
Eritrichium basifixum, C. B. Clarke.
(Batifixum means fixed to the base, alluding to the peculiar attachment
of the nutlets.)
Stems erect, solitary or few, 3-7 in. high, branching at the
top. Leaves stalkless, broadly lance-shaped, softly hairy,
f by i in., lower ones densely tufted, upper distant. Racemes
dense with bracts, in fruit, ij in. long. Flower-stalks 0-i in.
long. Bracts i in. long. Calyx-lobes in fruit i in. long,
narrowly oblong. Flowers i in. diameter and more, blue,
purplish. Nutlets rV in. long, apparently attached by their
base, circular back within the margin finely hairy.
Locality. At altitudes from 13,000-15,000 ft.
Distribution. Alpine W. Himalaya, from Kashmir to
Garhwal.
ASGLEPIADACEAE.
(After Asclepios or Aesculapius, the Greek god of
CYNANCHUM, Linn.
Plate 46
the healing art.)
(From the Greek Jcyon, kynos, a dog, and ancho, to strangle, alluding
to the poisonous properties of some species.)
In this genus the 5 stamens form round the pistil a solid
mass which bears appendages. The whole is 5-lobed or bellshaped,
sometimes with small scales within, and is called
crown or corona. The pollen of each anther is fused into
two waxy masses. Fruit consisting of two long follicles.
A. Twining.
I. Corolla hairy within ... C. auriculatum.
II. Corolla hairless.
1. Basal lobes of leaf bent
inwards ... ... C. Heydei.
2. Basal lobes of leaf not
bent inwards... ... C. acutum.
B. Not twining.
1^ Corolla hairless ... ... C. Vincctoxicum.
II. Corolla hairy within.
1. Corolla yellow ... ... C. glaucum.
2. Corolla dark purple ... C. Arnottianum.
3. Corolla pale greenish ... C. Jacquemontianum.