CURCULIGO

Herbs with thick and more or less tuberous underground stems. Leaves radical, sessile or stalked, more or less pilose. Flowers yellow, in

sessile or peduncled spikes or racemes, mostly among the leaves and hidden by them. Bracts large, lanceolate, sheathing. Perianth segments

subequal, persistent, villous on the outside. Stamens 3+3, equal, filaments subulate to filiform, shorter than the anthers; anthers linear or lanceolate, with entire apex and sagittate base, basifixed between the basal lobes, the strand of the connective running medianly in the anther. Ovary situated

among the leaf-bases, often subterraneous; ovules many in each -loculus, sometimes with long funicles; style short, columnar, stigmatic lobes 3, erect. Fruit more or less succulent, indehiscent. Seeds subglobose to ellipsoid-

oblong, with shining, striate testa and uncinate, partly free raphe; endosperm fleshy.

10 species, in tropical Asia, Africa, America and Australia.

1. Curculigo orchioides

Subterraneous stem erect, to c. 30 cm long.

Roots fleshy, often

contractile. Leaves 6-12, 5-45 cm x 3-30 mm, linear or very narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblanceolate, acute or acuminate, leaf-tips sometimes

producing buds on reaching the ground; sessile or tapering into a petiole up to about 18 cm long; glabrous or sparsely hairy particularly on the lower surface; base sheathing. Peduncle 2-3 cm long, pale, compressed, with long white hairs, tapering towards the base, covered by leaf-sheaths

underground. Inflorescence somewhat corymbiform, 3-6 cm long, with 5 -12 subsessile flowers, the lowest flower or few generally bisexual, the others staminate. Bracts lanceolate, acute, membranous and white below, green at the tip, sparsely hairy. Perianth segments 5-18 mm long, narrowly Filaments about 3 mm long, yellow;

elliptic or oblong, acute, yellow.

anthers 5-6 mm long, linear, dehiscing laterally. Ovary undeveloped in male flowers, forming a thin pistillode about 2 cm long; ovary in bisexual flowers narrowly ovoid, trigonous, pilose; perianth tube ('beak') 10-25 mm long and about 2 mm broad, the ovary being below ground and only the perianth appearing above; style 1-2 mm; stigmatic lobes oblong, 2-4 mm long, papillose on 3 sides of a conical stigma, style and stigma much reduced in male flowers. Ovules 4-10 in each loculus. Fruit oblong to ovoid, white,

hypogeous, 8-20 mm long, with spongy septa. Seeds 1-6, ellipsoid, angular, testa marked with deep, wavy, longitudinal grooves and shallow transverse

lines.

Distr. Micronesia.

Also in Peninsular India, Bengal, Assam, Java, east to

Ecol. Lowlands and to c. 2000 m, locally common, in grassy places and open places in forests, often in places subject to periodic burning. This is one of the first plants to appear after a patana or savannah fire, or in chena land. Flowering more or less throughout the year. Uses. Used in medicine. Said to be a very important drug. Vern. Hinbintal (S), Wolappanai (T).

2. MOLINERIA Perennial herbs with tuberous subterraneous stems, often with stolons. Leaves radical, with a long petiole, more or less pilose. Flowers yellow, mostly in a dense inflorescence with large pilose bracts. Perianth segments subequal, densely villous on the outside. Stamens 3+3, equal,

filaments short, erect, subulate; anthers linear or lanceolate, with entire apex and sagittate base, dorsifixed, adnate to filament on abaxial side. Ovary beaked by very short perianth tube or not, densely pilose; style subfiliform, glabrous; stigma capitate; each loculus with many ovules. Fruit

a berry, crowned by the enlarged persistent perianth. with shining or densely verruculose testa.

Seeds subglobose

About 7 species in the Indo-Malayan region; one species in Sri Lanka.

Molineria capitulata Stem 2-5 cm tall, 3-4 cm broad, dark, marked with leaf-scars, bearing numerous fibrous roots and stolons 7-15 mm thick with white scales turning black. Leaves 10-15, trifarious, narrowly elliptic, 25-100 x 4-24 cm, tapering below to petiole, sometimes asymmetric at base, long-acuminate, with about 20 prominent veins meeting apically, recurved, glabrous above, sparsely villous beneath, particularly along veins. Petiole 30-70 cm long,

channelled, with a sheathing base. Peduncle to 25 cm long, compressed, densely villous, often cernuous at the apex. Inflorescence sub-capitate, with about 100 flowers, entirely above ground. Bracts green, lanceolate, the

lowermost ones about 7 x 1 cm, boat-shaped, keeled, with about 10 veins, sparsely hairy and glossy above, densely silky hairy beneath and ciliate, the upper bracts smaller, less prominently keeled. Pedicel 8-10 mm, densely

covered with brownish silky hairs. Perianth without beak, yellow, fleshy, segments spreading, recurved, outer narrowly elliptic, acute, mucronate, c. 12 x 5-6 mm, inner elliptic, obtuse, c. 11 x 7-8 mm. Filaments 4-5 mm long, yellow, arcuate, arching outwards at the middle; anthers 5-6 mm long, erect, yellow, joined together to form a tube round the style. Ovary

turbinate; style filiform, yellow, 8-10 mm long; stigma about 1.5 mm long, more or less 3-lobed, yellow; ovules many in each loculus. Fruit an ovoid berry, 8-12 mm broad, on a stalk about 12 mm long, whitish, thinly covered with adpressed dark hairs. Seeds 2-15 in the white pulp of the fruit,

pyriform, 2.5-3 mm long, marked with deep longitudinal and shallow transverse grooves; endosperm hard, embryo straight.

Distr. Australia.

Also in northern India, Burma, Malesia, Southern China,

Ecol. Somewhat common garden plant in lowlands and mid-country, and occurring wild as an escape from cultivation. Vern. Wagapul (S). 2. Molineria trichocarpa

Subterraneous stem erect, fusiform with thick, long fibrous roots, mostly contractile; leaves 5-15, 10-75 cm x 10-55 mm, narrowly elliptic to very narrowly lanceolate, finely acuminate, with about 5 prominent veins, the mid-rib being the largest, the surfaces and edges hairy with clusters of long silky hairs arising in rows between the veins, or glabrous; petiole 5-55 cm long, with narrow wings, expanded below to form a white sheath, with an auriculate tip. Peduncle silky-villous, 3-7 cm long, slender, compressed, covered by a leaf sheath. Inflorescence an erect or inclined raceme 5-12 cm

long, with 5-30 flowers, the lower few bisexual, the upper staminate. Bracts filiform or lanceolate, 1-5 cm long, villous, with membranous ciliate edges. Pedicels 1-3 cm long, brownish, villous. Perianth without a tube, segments 7-10 mm long in the bisexual flowers, about 5 mm long in the staminate, elliptic, acuminate, orange-yellow, turning brown on drying. Filaments 2-5 mm long, filiform, yellow, suberect or spreading, anthers 2-4 mm long, yellow. Ovary clavate, style subulate, 3-4 mm long; stigmatic lobes 2-3 mm long, papillate, on 3 sides of the conical stigma; 2-10 ovules in each loculus. Fruit broadly fusiform, trigonous, white, sometimes nodding, crowned by persistent withered perianth, 10-15 mm long, with a thin pericarp. Seeds 28, c. 4 mm long, ovoid, shining, testa with deep longitudinal and shallow transverse grooves, acute at the two ends, with a hook at one side.

Distr. Also in Peninsular India. Ecol. Moist region, to about 1500 m, among grass and in light shade in forests; rather common in the patanas. Flowers fragrant. Uses. Used in medicine. Vern. Mahabintal (S). Flowering March-October.