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LXi. LYTHEACE^. (C. B. Clarke.) 



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DC. Prodr. iii. 79; JF. ^ A. Frodr. 306; Wall. Cat 2095; TTj^/^j; 7c?. t. 258 ; 

 KuTz in Journ. As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 86. A. latifolia, Wall. Cat. 20QQ,2)artli/. 

 A. subspicata, Benth. in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. i. 484. Ameletia rotundi- 

 folia, I)alz. 8f Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 96. A. su'bspicata, Benth. in Hook. Keio Journ. 

 Bot. iv. 81 . 



Im)ia ; common, in rice fields &c. throughout the plains and in warm places in the 

 lower mountains ; not received from Ceylon. — Distrib. China, Formosa. 



Rooting and creeping extensively so as often to form large patches in moist turf: 

 stems usually 4-6 in., roundish and leafy. Leaves \ in. diam., opposite, sessile or 

 shortly petioled, nerved, approximate below becoming distant towards the spikes, 

 blower-spikes dense, pedunculate, often 3 sometimes one only, sometimes pauicled ; 

 floral leaf one to each flower, ovate or oblong, bracteiform, bracteoles or most 

 pnnute. Calyx-tube campanulate, not elongate ; teeth 4, acute, triangular, without 

 interjected folds. Fetals 4, obovate, twice the length of the calyx-teeth, bright 

 .rose. Capsule ellipsoid, a little longer than broad. Seeds brown-yellow, ellipsoid, 

 peltate. — In this species, in A, florlbunda below, and probably ia others, the flowtrs 

 are dimorphic ; one kind has the stamens included and the style very long-exserted, 

 the other kind has the stamens long-exserted and the style short: these are 

 doubtless reciprocally fertile in the manner discovered by Mr. Darwin for Lythrum 

 Salicarla. No stress must be laid on the descriptions of the length of the style in 

 this genus. 



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' . 4. A. tenuis, C B, Clarke ; leaves opposite ovate or elliptic^ flowers ses- 

 sile close-packed in terminal spikes, capsule 2-valved. Ameletia tenuis, Wiy/d 

 J'c. t. 257 ; Dalz. ^ Gibs. Bomb, FL 96. 



'^'- Cextral India from Banda to the CoxXCAn and Bi^uae. East Bengal ; Griffith 

 No. 2310. 



'Erect, or biit shortly creeping at the base; varying from simple stems 3-4 in. to 



t,^ry compound stems 8-10 in. Leaves \-^ in., sessile or nearly so, often acute. 



' ^^ower-spikes dense, on filiform peduncles; floral leaf one to each flower, oblong or 



,: lanceolate, bracteoles lanceolate, exceeding half the length of the calyx. Calyx- 



^"Oe campanulate, much more elongate than that of A, rotundifolia; teeth 4, 



: ^wte, without interjected folds. Petals 4, obovate, not much longer than the 



■ calyx-teeth. Capsule ellipsoid, much longer than broad. Seeds brown-yellow, el- 



^^Ptie, peltate. 



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j5. A. florlbunda, C. B. Clarke] leaves alternate, upper narrow-oblon 

 or linear, flowers sessile close packed in terminal spikes, capsule 2-valved. Ame- 

 letia floribunda, Wiyht III. 206, not good and the reference to the pjure ^vrony; 

 Nook. Ic, PI, t. 826; Dalz. 4* Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 96. Aimmonia floribunda^ Wiyht 

 »^ Madras Journ. of Science vi. 34, t. 20. 



Mahableshwur Hills, Bombay ; Law, Stocks. 

 - -Erect or but shortly creeping at the base ; stems often much branched, 8-10 in. 

 |:^wer leaves 1-2 in., broad-oblong, obtuse, sessile, base broad, upper leaves {-J in., 

 linear or narrow-oblong. Flower-spikes dense on filiform peduncles; floral leaf one 

 ^^ each flower, oblong or lanceolate ; bracteoles lanceolate, exceeding half the length 

 ot the calyx. Calyx-tide campanulate, elongate, like that of A. tenuis; teeth 4, 

 *cute, without interjected folds. Petals 4. obovate, nearly twice the calyx^teeth, 

 ^}^&it rose. Capsule ellipsoid, much longer than broad. Seeds brown-yellow, el- 

 >»ptic, peltate.— Very closely allied to the preceding species. 



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MueU.Fragm. iii. 108; leaves in whorls of 3-6 linear, 

 psiile 3-valved. Benth. Fl. Austral, iii. 295. Rotala 

 Prodr. iii. 76 ; WdL Cat. 6321 ; W. 4* A, Frodr. 303; 



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