Tupistra
(from tupis, a mallet; alluding to the peculiar form of the stigma). Mallet Flower. SYN. Platymetra. Including Macrostigma (of Kunth). ORD. Liliaceae. A genus embracing three or four species of stove, perennial herbs, inhabiting the Himalayas or Burmah. Flowers sessile, clustered; perianth violet or lurid, campanulate, with a broad, scarcely contracted tube, and six, rarely eight, short, spreading, sub-equal lobes; stamens six or eight; spike terminal, dense, cylindrical; scape short or elongated, erect or recurved at apex, simple. Leaves radical, long, ample, contracted into the petioles. Rhizome thick. The two species known in cultivation thrive in rich loam; they may be increased by suckers, or by division of the plants, in spring. T. macrostigma (Macrostigma). fl., perianth dark purple, 1/2in. across, campanulate; spike drooping, lax, 2in. to 3in. long; peduncle dark purple, erect, as long as the spike. December. l. lanceolate, acute, chartaceous, above 1ft. long, bright green; petioles dilated at base, firm, erect, 6in. or more long. Rhizome creeping, much-branched. Khasia, 1876. (B. M. 6280.) SYN. Macrostigma tupistroides (R. G. 192).
T. nutans (nodding). A synonym of T. squalida.
T. squalida (squalid). fl., perianth lurid-violet, or with the tube greenish, six to eight lines long; bracts large, scarious, deltoid; spike dense, nodding, 3in. to 6in. long; scape 3in. to 6in. long. March. l. oblanceolate, erect, 2ft. to 3ft. long, 2in. to 4in. broad, long-petiolate, narrowed at both ends. Rhizome fleshy. Himalayas, 1820. (B. M. 1655; B. R. 701; L. B. C. 515.) SYN. T. nutans (B. M. 3054; B. R. 1223).
