2 CIV, NYCTAGINEE (BAKER AND WRIGHT). | Mirabilis. 
plicate, deciduous. Stamens 5-6, unequal, exserted ; filaments capil- 
lary, incurved at the apex, united into a short cup at the base ; anther- 
cells subglobose. Ovary ellipsoid or ovoid; style filiform, exserted ; 
stigma capitellate, bearing stalked papille. Fruit enclosed in the 
hardened base of the perianth and surrounded at the base by the 
persistent staminal cup. Seeds adhering to the pericarp; embryo 
curved ; cotyledons surrounding the scanty farinaceous endosperm.— 
Di- or tri-chotomously branched herbs, glabrous or glandular-pubescent ; 
root elongated or tuberous. Leaves opposite, the lower petioled, upper 
sessile. Involucres cymosely arranged. Flowers rather large, fragrant 
or inodorous, white, red or variously coloured. 
Species about 10, in the hotter parts of America. 
1. M, Jalapa, Zinn. Sp. Pl. ed. i. 177. An erect perennial herb 
about 2 ft. high. Root napiform. Stem glabrous or shortly pubescent. 
Leaves thin, ovate or ovate-cordate, acuminate, glabrous or pulverulent 
above, often ciliate on the margin and bearing cystoliths below, 3 in. 
long, 1} in. wide; petiole slender, 4 in. long, Involucre } in. long; 
lobes ovate. Flowers 3-6 in each cyme. Perianth purple, red, yellow 
or white; tube 1} in. long, cylindrical below, funnel-shaped at the top ; 
limb spreading, 1 in. or rather more in diam.—Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 1,1. 
2u4.; Boy Mag. t. 3/1; Plenck; fc. Pl nu. 47, t. 137; Choisy m DUC. 
Prodr. xiii. 11. 427; Schmidt in Mart. FI. Bras. xiv. ii. 349, t. 81; 
Hiern in Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. i. 881; Cummins in Kew Bulletin, 1898, 
77. M. dichotoma, Linn. Syst. ed. 10, ii. 931, and Sp. Pl. ed. 2, 252; 
Welw. Apont. 547. Nyctago Jalape, DC. Fl. Frang. iii. 426. Jalapa 
officinalis, Crantz, Inst. ii. 266. 
Upper Guinea. Ashanti, Cummins ! Lagos, Punch, 19! Rowland ! Sierra 
Leone, Winwood Reade ! 
Nile Land. Gallabat: region of Matamma, Schweinfurth, 2444! 
Lower Guinea. Island of St. Thomas, Moller. Angola: Cazengo and 
Golungo Alto ; in forests on the banks of the River Luinha, Welwitsch, 5376, 5377 ; 
Icolo e Bengo; at the convent of San Antonio, Welwitsch, 53778 ; Pungo Andongo ; 
abundant along the banks of streams, Welwitsch. 
Mozamb. Dist. German East Africa: Usambara; Amboni, Holst, 2799 ! 
Portuguese East Africa : Mozambique, Peters. Shamo, near the mouth of the 
River Shire, Kirk! Nyasaland : Manganja Hills; at N’Garis Village, 3000 ft., 
Meller! Waller! Zanzibar, Lyne! 
A native of Peru, now established in many parts of the Old World. 
2. BOERHAAVIA, Vaill.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. iii. 5. 
Bracts minute, rarely forming an involucre. Perianth-tube cylin- 
drical, the lower part persistent and becoming hardened to enclose the 
fruit, the upper part petaloid and deciduous; limb shortly 5-lobed. 
Stamens 1—5, more or less exserted ; filaments capillary, connate at the 
base; anthers 2-celled. Ovary stipilate; style capillary; stigma 
peltate. Persistent base of the perianth clavate, hard, 5-ribbed, often 
