Boerhaavia.}  C1v. NYCTAGINEE (BAKER AND WRIGHT), 3 
glandular, enclosing the fruit. Seed adherent to the pericarp ; em- 
bryo uncinate ; cotyledons thin, broad, encircling the thin endosperm ; 
radicle long.—M uch-branched herbs. Leaves opposite, entire or slightly 
repand. Flowers small, usually umbellate ; pedicels articulated at the 
apex, 
Species about 20, throughout the tropics and warm temperate regions. 
Perianth not more than 22 lin. long. 
Flowers usually solitary, rarely 2~3-nate. 
Leaves glabrous. 1. B. elegans. 
Leaves pubescent : : 2. B. hereroensis. 
Flowers all in terminal umbels. 
Fruit-perianth 14 lin. long. : 3. B. adscendens. 
Fruit-perianth 2 lin. long . : : : . 4. B. repens. 
Fruit-perianth 3 Jin. long : ‘ ‘ . 5, B. Schinz. 
Flowers both in terminal umbels and lateral whorls. 
Upper part of perianth 1 lin. long ‘ 6. B. verticillata. 
Upper part of perianth 2} lin. long . . ‘ - 7. B. fallacissima. 
Perianth at least 3 lin. long. 
Pedicels short. Fruit with large globose glands near 
: : : ; . . 8. B. plumbaginea. 
the apex 
Pedicels long. 
Ribs of fruit-perianth obscure : : . 9. B, pentandra. 
Ribs of fruit-perianth distinct . : . . 10. B, squarrosa. 
1. B. elegans, Choisy in DC. Prodr. xiii. ii. 453. Stems tall, 
branched, woody at the base, glabrous. Leaves distinctly petioled, 
broadly ovate, 14 in. long and broad, glabrous, whitish beneath. 
Flowers solitary, rarely in pairs, arranged in a lax ample panicle above 
the leaves; ultimate panicle-branches very slender; bracts minute ; 
pedicels very short. Upper portion of the perianth very small, cam- 
panulate; accrescent base clavate, {-4 in. long, pentagonal, viscid or 
glabrate. Stamens 2.—B. repens, var. elegans, Aschers, & Schweinf. in 
Schweinf. Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 169. B. rubicunda, Steud. Nomencl. 
ed. 2,1. 213. B. Marlothii, Heimerl in Engl. Jahrb. x. 10. 
Wile Land. Coast of Nubia, ex Boissier. Uganda: Unyoro, Speke & Grant, 
510! British East Africa: Nyika country near Mombasa, Wakefield ! 
Lower Guinea. Angola: in open places near the sea at Banana, Wonteiro! 
German South-West Africa: Hereroland ; in stony places at Otyimbingue, 2900 ft., 
Marloth, 1342. 
Wozamb. Dist. German East Africa: Rovuma River, Kirk! British 
Central Africa: Nyasaland ; Zomba and vicinity, 2500-3500 ft., Whyte! 
Also in Arabia and eastwards to Beluchistan. 
The roots are eaten by the natives in Unyoro, according to Speke and Grant, 
2. B. hereroensis, Heimerl in Engl. Jahrb. x. 9. Very much 
branched, diffuse, very viscid herb; slender stems densely pubescent. 
Leaves thick, pubescent, the lower and middle cuneately narrowed into 
a petiole as long as the blade, oblong-lanceolate, 2-3 times longer than 
broad, obtuse, the upper suddenly smaller, subacute, shortly petioled. 
Panicle much branched; ultimate branches capillary, almost glabrous 
