141 XVII. CARYOPHYLLACEjE (OLIVER). 



10. POLYCARPON, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 152. 



Sepals 5, free, membranous or scarious, with a strong herbaceous keel. 

 Petals 5, shorter than the sepals, entire or emarginate. Stamens 5-3. Ovary 

 1 -celled, multiovulate ; style short, 3-fid. Capsule 3-valved. Embryo curved 

 or nearly straight.— Diffuse forking herbs, with opposite leaves, usually in 

 pseudo-verticils of 4, with scarious stipules. Flowers small, in terminal cymes. 



A small widely-spread genus in temperate and tropical countries. 

 Sepals strongly keeled, apiculate. Seeds and embryo distinctly 



curved 1. -P. tetraphyllum. 



Sepals keeled, obtuse or scarcely apiculate. Seeds cylindric- oblong ; 



embryo nearly straight 2. P. Laflingii. 



1. P. tetraphyllum, Linn,/. ; DC. Prod. iii. 376. A glabrous, diffuse, 

 forking, erect or procumbent herb of 3 or 4 in. Leaves obovate obbmceo- 

 late or oval, obtuse or scarcely acute, narrowed into the petiole, -^s in. long, 

 two pairs usually approximated so as to appear in whorls ot 4. Floweis 

 very small, in dense or loose terminal cymes. Sepals strongly keeled and 

 boat-shaped, acutely apiculate. Seeds curved on one edge, with a distinctly 

 curved embryo. 



Nile Land. Abyssinia, Schimper ! Dillon. , 



Occurs at the Cape, and generally in sandy or maritime situations, in the warmer parts o 

 both hemispheres (tropical Asia excepted, Bentham). 



2. P. Loeflingii, Benth. et Hook. Gen. PI. i. 153 {in note). Similar io 

 habit to the above, usually larger, 6-8 in., tomentose-pubescent or glabrous. 

 Leaves from oblanceolate to nearly linear, rather acute or obtuse, usually trom 

 i-f in. Flowers in paniculate cymose fascicles. Sepals with a strong 

 linear herbaceous more or less obtuse keel, rather unequal. Petals notched 

 or entire. Seeds shortly cylindrical, with the hilum lateral near one end, and 

 a nearly straight embryo. For synonymy, see Walpers, Rep. i. 263. — Arversm 

 depressa, Kl. in Peters' Mossamb. Bot. 140. 



Upper Guinea. Niger, Barter I 



Nile Land. Nubia, Bromfield ! Kordofan and Sennar {Webb, Frag. Fl. Mhiop.)- 



Lower Guinea. Angola, Dr. Welwitsch ! Congo, Smith I 



Mozumb. Distr. Zambesi, Dr. Peters. 



Occurs in northern Africa and India. . .l 



Were it not that Nuttall has applied the specific name depression to another species, I 

 ought, being as I suppose the oldest, to have been retained here. Polycarptra memphutca, 

 Del. Fl. .Egypt. Atl. t. 24. f. 2, appears to be the same plant. « 



Polycarpaa mozambica, Kunth et Bouche (Iud. Sem. Berol. 1848), I do not know, 

 may be a glabrous form of the above. 



11. POLYCARPAA, Lam. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PL i. 154. 



Sepals 5, free, scarious, not keeled. Petals as many, entire or toothed, 

 shorter than the sepals. Stamens 5, hypogynous or slightly perigynous, fi»? 

 or connate at the base. Ovary 1-celled, with few or many ovules ; style short 

 (in tropical African species) or elongate j stigma 3-lobed or nearly entire and 

 capitate. Capsule 3-valved. Embryo usually curved.— Erect or diffuse, di- 

 chotomous herbs. Leaves usually linear or lanceolate, often fascicled, form- 



