WaltJieria!] xxvi. sterculiacEjE (masters). 235 



Seed ascending, albuminous; embryo straight. Cotyledons flat, cordate; 

 radicle next the hilum. — Herbs or undershrubs, more or less densely co- 

 vered with stellate tomentum. Flowers small, in globose clusters or 

 scorpioidal spikes or branched cymes. 



Tropical weeds, varying much in habit, aspect, and stature. 



Leaves lanceolate. Petals shorter than the calyx. Bracts and sepals 



tomentose \. S. lanceolata. 



Leaves ovate, oblong. Petals longer than the calyx. Bracts and se- 

 pals villose 2. S. americana. 



1. "W. lanceolata, R. Br. in Herb. Mus. Brit. Am undershrub, densely 

 covered with stellate tomentum. Leaves on very short stalks, lanceolate, cre- 

 nate-serrate, palmately 3-costate, 1-2 in. long. Stipules linear, as long as 

 the petioles. Cymes axillary, sessile or stalked, scorpioid, shorter than the 

 leaves. Bracts lanceolate, nearly equal to the calyx, which is pyriform, pent- 

 angular, 10-ribbed, 5-parted; segments ovate, pointed, densely downy, 3-4- 

 lines long. Corolla shorter than the calyx, of 5 oblong, spathulate, stalked 

 petals, confluent below with the staminal tube, which is shorter than the 

 petals, and bears above 5 2-lobed extrorse anthers, opposite to the petals. 

 Ovary oblong, oblique, setose. Style 1, excentric ; stigma curved ; ovule 

 ascending. Seed coriaceous. 



Upper Guinea. Senegarnbia, Heudelot ! Gambia, Ingram ! Sierra Leone, Smith ! 



This differs from W. americana, not only in the form of the leaves, but in that of the 

 calyx, and in the different proportion it bears to the corolla. The present plant, moreover, 

 though downy and pilose, is not villose. 



2. W. americana, Linn. ; DC. Prod. i. 492. A perennial plant or 

 undershrub, I or 2 ft. high, villose in every part. Leaves shortly stalked, 

 cordate or blunt at the base, ovate-oblong, obtuse, toothed and plicately 

 veined, 1-3 in. long. Flowers small, yellow, in dense heads, almost sessile 

 in the axils of the leaves or the upper ones clustered into a short spike or 

 irregularly collected into dense, leafy or leafless cymes or corymbs. Bracts 

 narrow, villose. Calyx bell-shaped, 5-cleft ; segments lanceolate, acuminate, 

 densely villose. Petals longer than the calyx, oblong, tapering to a stalk. — 

 fT. eiliptica, Cav. Diss. vi. 171. W. mdica, Linn.; DC. Prod. i. 493. 

 W. guimmsis, Schum. et Thonn. PL Gruin. 295. TV. africana, Schum. et 

 Thonn. 1. c. W. paucifiora, Hochst. PI. Schimp. Abyss. 



Generally distributed throughout tropical Africa. 



A common tropical weed, widely distributed and highly variable. 



11. MELOCHIA, Linn.; Bentb. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 223. 



Calyx 5-cleft, bell-shaped. Petals 5, oblong-spathulate, marcescent. 

 Stamens 5, opposite the petals, connate at the base ; anthers 2-celled ; cells 

 parallel. Ovary sessile or stalked, 5-celled ; ovules 2 in each cell. Styles 5, 

 free or connate at the base. Capsule loculicidally 5-valved ; cells 1 -seeded. 

 Seed ascending. Embryo straight. — Herbs or shrubs, with downy leaves. 



