RUBIACEÆ. LXVIII. Sieanea. 
3 S. cromera‘ra (H. B. et Kunth, nov. gen. amer. 3. p. 398.) 
stems unknown ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, clothed with silky 
tomentum on both surfaces, with undulated margins ; flowers 
glomerate, terminal, and axillary. 3%. S. Native on the banks 
of the Orinoco, between Atures and Carichana, in inundated 
places. Virécta glomerata, Spreng. syst. 1. p. 702. Ptychddea 
sessiliflora, Willd. herb. ex Cham. et Schlecht. l. c. Corolla 
a with a silky tube, which is 4 times longer than the 
calyx. 
Glomerate-flowered Sipanea. Pl. creeping? 
4 S. sirtora (Lin. fil. suppl. p. 134.) stem creeping ; leaves 
ovate, obtuse ; peduncles terminal, rising from the forks of the 
branches, 2-flowered. ©. S. Native of Surinam and Brazil, 
in humid places. Cham. et Schlecht. in Linnea. 4. p. 168. 
Rondelétia biflora, Rottb. pl. sur. 7. t. 2. f. 2. A. Rich. mem. 
soc. hist. nat. par. 5. p. 271. Virécta virens, Vahl. symb. 2. 
p-38. Geertn. fil. carp. t. 184. There is a tooth between each 
of the calycine lobes, according to Lin. fil., but according to 
Gertn. there are none; but in the specimens examined there 
are 5 subulate teeth, and 5 minute ones between these. 
Tno-flowered Sipanea. Pl. creeping. 
Cult. The species of this genus possess no beauty, and 
are therefore only worth cultivating in botanical gardens. The 
seeds should be sown in spring, on a hot-bed, and the plants, when 
of sufficient size, should be planted into separate pots, and shifted 
from size to size of pots as they grow. 
LXIX. VIRE'CTA (from viréctum, a green place; from the 
agreeable greenness of the leaves). D.C. prod. 4. p. 414.— 
Virécta species, Smith, but not of Lin. fil.--Sipanea species, A. 
Rich. ?—Phyteumoìdes, Smeathmann, in herb. L’Her. 
Ian. syst. Pentándria, Monogynia. Calyx with an ovate 
short tube, and 5 linear-setaceous lobes. Corolla funnel-shaped, 
with an obconical tube, about equal in length to the lobes of 
the calyx, a naked throat, and 5 linear-oblong ciliated lobes. 
Stamens 5: having the filaments much exserted beyond the 
throat ; anthers linear, oscillatory, bifid at the base. Style fili- 
form, equal in length to the stamens. Stigma hardly thickened, 
undivided. Capsule globose, crowned by the calycine lobes in 
the young state, but almost naked in the adult state, 2-cellec, 
and at length dehiscing at the cells. Seeds innumerable, 4-5- 
sided, and a little muricated.— Hairy herbs, with opposite 
branches, Leaves opposite, oval-oblong. Stipulas twin on each 
side, lanceolate. Flowers white or yellow, disposed in dense cy- 
mse corymbs: branchlets of cyme elongated after flowering.— 
ae genus is nearly allied to Sipànea, but differs in the genitals 
emg exserted ; it differs also from Hedydtis in the quinary 
number of the floral parts, and in the exserted stamens, &c. 
1 V. MULTIFLÒRA (Smith, in Rees’s cycl. no. 4.) stem erect; 
eaves ovate-lanceolate, almost sessile.—Native of Sierra Leone, 
nies It was collected by Smeathmann. Phyteumoides hirsuta, 
meathm. in herb. L’Her. Perhaps Sipanea angustifolia, A. 
ich. mem. soc. hist. nat. par. 5. p. 276. is the same as the 
Present plant. Flowers white. 
any-flowered Virecta. Pl. 2 to 3 feet. 
i 2 V. PROCUMBENS (Smith, l. c. no. 2.) stem procumbent ; 
faves ovate, 3 times longer than the petioles. %. S. Native 
of Sierra Leone. 
Procumbent Virecta. Pl. procumbent. 
3 V. tu'rea; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acuminated, hairy ; 
pedicels aggregate, axillary ; calyx 5-toothed; corolla tubular, 
5-cleft, hairy, Yy. S. Native of Sierra Leone, in cultivated 
places. Flowers yellow. Habit of Lithospérmum. Perhaps 
the same as V, proctimbens. 
Yellow-flowered Virecta. Pl. rambling. 
4 vs ELA’ tor (D. C. prod. 4. p. 415.) leaves oval-lanceolate, 
OL. 11 
LXIX. Virecra. 
LXX. Opurtorniza. 521 
rounded at the base and abruptly petiolate, acute at the apex, 
smoothish ; flowers terminal, almost aggregate; calycine seg- 
ments very unequal, smoothish; tube of corolla very long. 
Y.S. Native of Angola, in south-western Africa. Sipanea 
elatior, A. Rich. mem. soc. hist. nat. par. 5. p. 276. 
Taller Virecta. PI. 
5 V.? panicura'ta; suffruticose, branched, clothed with 
brown or copper-coloured hairs; leaves oval-lanceolate ; co- 
rymbs panicled, axillary, and terminal. h. S. Native of Sierra 
Leone, on the mountains. Flowers small, greenish. 
Panicled-flowered Virecta. Shrub. 
Cult. For culture and propagation see Sipanea above. 
LXX. OPHIORHIZA (from opic, ophis, a snake, and pga. 
rhiza, a root; used for the cure of the bite of the riband snake). 
Lin. fl. zeyl. no. 402. Gærtn. fruct. 1. p. 264. t. 55. R. Br. 
prod. 1. p. 450. A. Rich. mem. soc. hist. nat. par. 1823. 
vol. 1. p. 67. Roxb. fl. ind. 2. p. 554. Blum. bijdr. p. 976. 
D. Don, prod. fl. nep. p. 135. D.C. prod. 4. p. 415.—Ophio- 
rhiza species, Lin. gen. no. 210. and others. 
Lin. syst. Pentdndria, Monogynia. Calyx with a short 
turbinate tube, which is adnate to the ovarium at the base, and 
a 5-cleft permanent limb. Corolla tubularly funnel-shaped, 3- 
times Jonger than the limb of the calyx, hairy inside; with 5 
ovate segments. Stamens 5, inclosed. Style filiform, girded 
by an urceolus at the base; stigma 2-lobed, shorter than the 
corolla. Capsule broad, compressed, 2-lobed, almost mitre- 
formed, crowned by the calycine teeth, internally divided 
into 2 cells by a transverse partition, opening between the 
remains of the 2 fleshy nectareal lips, or by a transverse chink 
round the apex. Seeds numerous, small, hexagonal. Embryo 
straight, slender, in fleshy or rather horny albumen.—Dwarf 
perennial herbs, natives of the East Indies. Leaves opposite, 
petiolate, membranous, those opposite each other often unequal 
in size. Stipulas twin on each side, small. Peduncles axillary 
and terminal, solitary, cymose at the apex, with sub-umbellate 
branches. Flowers disposed along the branches of the pedun- 
cles in a single unilateral row. 
1 O. Mu'ncos (Lin. amæn. 2. p. 117. spec. 213. mat. med. 
27. with a bad figure, but not of Burm.) suffruticose ; leaves 
elliptic-lanceolate, acuminated at both ends, glabrous, papery ; 
stipulas small, truncate ; cymes pedunculate, terminal, branched ; 
tube of corolla short, funnel-shaped. 4Y. S. Native of Java, 
Ceylon, Sumatra, Pulo Penang, &c. Blum. bijdr. p. 976. Roxb, 
fl. ind. 2. p. 544. Geertn. fr. 1. t. 55.2? A. Rich. lc. t. 2. 
Radix. Mungo. Koempf. ameen. 573. and 577. Stipulas a slight 
connecting membrane. Nectary a 2-lipped terminal body, sur- 
rounding the base of the style. Flowers white. The root is 
very bitter, and is celebrated as an alexiteric, the trunk of which 
is horizontal, and the fibres perpendicular. The plant is called 
in Ceylon Ekanerya and Naghamalli, from nagha, the riband- 
snake, for the bite of which it is accounted a specific. 
Mungos’ Snake-root. Fl. May, Dec. Cit. 1820. Pl. 1 to2 ft. 
2 O. sracreora’ra (Wall. cat. no. 6228.) stem ascending, 
villous above, simple, or a little branched; leaves unequal in 
size in each pair, as is the case in most of the species; stipulas 
ensiform, pubescent; common peduncles slender, villous, from 
3-5 inches long. Y.S. Native of the valley of Nipaul, in dark 
moist situations. 
Bracteolate Snake-root. PI. 1 foot. 
3 O. osgroxciròLIa (D. C. prod. 4. p. 415.) suffruticose, 
downy at the apex as well as on the peduncles ; leaves ob- 
long, bluntish, attenuated at the base, glabrous above, pale and 
rather velvety beneath ; stipulas small, triangular, acute ; cymes 
pe ei branched ; tube of corolla short, h.? %.? 8, 
3 
