10 CV. ILLECEBRACEZ (BAKER AND WRIGHT). | Pollichia. 
pendulous from a basal funicle; embryo annular or straight, radicle 
inferior ; endosperm copious or scanty —Annual or perennial herbs, 
rarely shrubs. Leaves entire, usually opposite and stipulate. Inflor- 
escence usually a congested cyme. Flowers minute, usually green, 
subtended by large or small scarious bracts and bracteoles. 
Species about 90, cosmopolitan. 
Flowers all perfect. 
Embryo straight. Ovary 2-ovuled . : - . ld. PoLLIcuIa. 
Embryo annular. Ovary 1-ovuled. 
Leaves stipulate. 
Bracts large, scarious. , : : : - 2; PARONYGHTA. 
Bracts small. 
Frait a membranous utricle ‘ . 3. HERNIARIA. 
Fruit indehiscent . c ; : ; . 4 CoRRIGIOLA. 
Leaves exstipulate, connate at the base : . 5. SCLERANTHUS. 
Flowers in threes, the two outer imperfect. Bracts com- 
pound. : : : : : : . . 6. CoMETES. 
1. POLLICHIA, Soland.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. iii. 14. 
Perianth becoming slightly thickened when mature ; tube campanu- 
late; lobes 5, ovate, spreading. Stamens 1-2, inserted on the disk ; fila- 
ments short, subulate ; staminodes ovate. Ovary ovoid ; ovules 2, basal ; 
style bifid. Fruit a 1—2-seeded membranous utricle enclosed in the 
persistent perianth, subtended by fleshy bracteoles. Seeds oblong or 
ovoid ; embryo dorsal, slightly curved ; endosperm farinaceous. 
Monotypic. 
1. P. campestris, Soland. in Ait. Hort. Kew. ed.i. 5. A peren- 
nial, Stems much-branched, pubescent, woody, 3-1 ft. long. Leaves 
fascicled, linear, acute, sessile, 3-1 in. Jong; stipules ovate, white, 
scarious, persistent. Flowers in dense axillary clusters; bracts minute. 
Perianth green, } lin. long; lobes ovate, green edged with white, as 
long as the campanulate tube. Stamens as long as the perianth. Disk 
large, lobed, filling up the throat of the perianth.—Smith, Spicil. 1, t. 1; 
DC. Prodr, iii. 377; A. Rich. Tent. Fl, Abyss. i. 304; Schweinf. Beitr. 
Fl. Aethiop. 59; Engl. Hochgebirgsfl. Trop. Afr. 215; Hiern in Cat. 
Afr. Pl. Welw. i. 883, Neckeria campestris, Gmelin, Syst. Veg. i. 16. 
Meerburgia glomerata, Moench, Meth. Suppl. 116. Bergia abyssinica, 
A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss. i, 49. 
Wile Land. Dalak Island in the Red Sea, Ehrenberg. Eritrea: near Ailet 
and Arkiko, Hhrenberg ; near Acrur, 6200 ft., Schweinfurth § Riva, 768! Aidereso, 
4000 ft., Schweinfurth § Riva, 1452! Abyssinia: Tigre ; Jaja, Schimper, 371! 
near Adowa, Schimper, 1106! British East Africa ; Sani, Kaessner, 743 ! Naivasha, 
Johnston ! 
Lower Guinea. Angola: Mossamedes, Welwitsch, 1088! 1088B! 
Mozamb. Dist. British Central Africa - Ngamiland, Baines ! 
Also in Arabia and South Africa. 
