Mitracarpum. | LXX. RUBIACEH (HIERN). 24.3 
76. MITRACARPUM, Zuccar. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. 
ii. p. 146. 
Calyx campanulate-turbinate ; limb of 4 teeth, of which 2 are much 
larger than the other pair, persistent. Corolla funnel-shaped, mem- 
branous; throat not quite naked; lobes 4, spreading, valvate in the 
bud. Stamens 4, glabrous, inserted at the top of the corolla-tube ; 
filaments short; anthers oblong, fixed by the back. Disk annular, 
elevated. Ovary 2-celled ; style slender, with 2 short slender branches; 
ovules solitary, peltately attached to the middle of the septum, amphi- 
tropous. Fruit subdidymous, bursting transversely round the middle ; 
seeds attached about the middle of the face and usually coming away 
with the upper part of the membranous pericarp, marked on the 
ventral face with a diagonally placed impressed cross. Radicle in- 
ferior. Testa pitted.—Herbs with opposite leaves, short truncate 
Setose stipules adnate to the base of the leaves, and small hermaphrodite 
crowded verticillate flowers arranged in axillary and terminal heads. 
A genus of moderate size, chiefly occurring in tropical America. 
There isin the Kew Herbarium a specimen from the “South African gold-field,” 
collected by T. Baines and received in 1871, which may or may not be tropical, and 
which apparently belongs to Mitracarpum Dregeanum, E. Mey., a species, however, 
which is perhaps rather a Spermacoce. 
1. M. scabrum, Zuccarini ex Schult. Mant. in Roem. et Schult. 
Syst. Veg. iii. p. 210, obs. sub n. 69. A sturdy annual, almost suffru- 
ticose at the base, erect, branched, 1-2 feet high. Stem and branches 
subterete below, obtusely 4-sided above, subcompressed towards the 
’pex, puberulous or glabrate. , Leaves oval or oblong, obtuse or nearly 
80, wedge-shaped at the base, puberulous beneath or nearly glabrous 
except the finely scabrous margin, 1-24 by }-1 in., subsessile, veins 
slender, not conspicuous ; sete of the stipules 5-7, about as long as the 
Sheath. Flowers white. Calyx-limb of 2 oblong or oblong-lanceolate 
obtuse or acute teeth and of 2 subulate smaller ones. Corolla-tube as 
long as the larger calyx-teeth. Bracteoles filiform, scarcely equalling 
the calyx-teeth.—M. senegalense, DC. Prodr. iv. p. 572. M. verticilla- 
tum, Vatke in Linnea, xl. p. 196. Stauwrospermum verticillatum, Schum. 
et Thonn. Beskr. Guin. Pl. p. 73. Oldenlandia verticillata, Bacle ex 
DC. 1. c. Mitracarpum, sp. n. 2, T. Thoms. in Speke, Journ., App. p. 636. 
Upper Guinea, Senegambia, Bacle, Perrottet and Leprieur, Roger! Guinea, 
Nj ning; Sierra Leone, Th. Vogel! Accra, G. Don! Dahomey, Consul Burton! 
‘ger Expedition, Baikie! at Nupe, Barter! . 
Worth Central. Kouka, £. Vogel! common in hedges at Udge, £. Vogel ! 
otha” Land. Nubia, Cordofan and Sennaar, Kotschy ! White Nile, Petherick ! end 
Lo, Abyssinia, Schimper / Unyoro, Speke and Grant! Djur-land, Schweinfurth ! 
Aleg to Guinea. Congo, Chr. Smith! 
m the Cape de Verde Islands. 
77. RUBIA, Tourn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. ii. p. 149. 
Calyx-tube subglobose ; limb obsolete. Corolla rotate or subcam- 
P anulate ; lobes 5, rarely 4, valvate in the bud. Stamens 6, rarely 4, 
y crted on the tube of the corolla; filaments short; anthers oblong. 
Disk shortly cushion-shaped. Ovary 2-celled or towards the pane or 
R 
