806 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
as “spatulate and distinct,” from the inferior 5-lobed calyx. Mar- 
tius* placed the genus in an order Sphenocleaceae by itself, but 
just preceding the Campanulaceae. Lindley? made a suborder 
Sphenocleaceae, but expressing a doubt as follows: 
“This remarkable plant is very much like a campanulaceous genus in structure; 
but its exalbuminous seeds, the absence of collecting hairs from its styles, and the 
round subsessile anthers, seem to indicate the type of a different order; and the 
peculiar habit of the only known species seems to confirm the propriety of the 
separation.”’ 
An excellent account of the species has been given by Wight. 
In his work we find a series of illustrations from the unopened flower 
to the characteristic spongy, pendulous placenta, the small, oblong 
seed 0.5 mm. long, and the minute embryo. Figure 10 of plate 
138 shows the capsule after the dehiscence has taken place. In 
specimens at hand this feature is very conspicuous and the remains 
of the capsule as well as of the placenta can be seen almost with the 
naked eye. Both Gaertner and Retzius had noted the circumscissile 
capsule. 
The following is a description of the species: 
Sphenoclea zeylanica Gaert. Fruct. & Sem. 1: 113. pl. 24. f. §. 1788; Schoenl. in 
Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 4°: 61. 1889. 
Pongati Rheede, Hort. Malabar. 11: 47. pl. 24. 1692; Adans. Hist. Nat. Sénég. 83. 
1757. 
Rapinia herbacea Lour. Fl. Cochinch. 1: 127. 1790. 
Gaertnera pangati Retz. Obs. Bot. 6: 24. 1791. 
Pongatium indicum Lam. Tabl. Encycl. 1: 444. 1791. 
Sphenoclea pongatium DC. Prodr. 7: 548. 1839; Wight, Illustr. Ind. Bot. 2: 115. pl. 
138. 1850. 
Pongati zeylanica Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2: 381. 1891. 
Herbaceous plant 1 meter high or more; stem branching, from a thick cluster of 
roots, 1.5 cm. in diameter at the base; leaves mostly oblanceolate, thin, light green, 
9 cm. in length or less, tapering to a petiole 1 cm. long; flowers in terminal spikes, 
3 to 6 cm. long, the flower subtended by one bract and 2 bractlets (?), these broad, 
rhombic towards the apex; calyx 5-cleft, the lobes rounded, persistent and inclosing 
the mature fruit; corolla minute, whitish, 5-lobed; stamens 5, sessile in the sinuses 
with the corolla lobes alternating; anthers 2-locular, round, dehiscing longitudinally; 
ovary 2-celled, the style short, the stigmas 2; ovules very numerous on a spongy, 
central placenta; mature capsule circumscissile, about 3 mm. in diameter; seed 
oblong, minute, of a light brown color. 
The following North American specimens have been examined: 
Louisiana: Gueydan (in the rice fields), Pipes; Crowley, Aldrich; southwest Lou- 
isiana, Dodson; Markville, W. L. MecAtee. 
T have also seen specimens from the Lower Orinoco, collected by Doctor Rusby and 
from Porto Rico, collected by Heller, by Underwood and Griggs, and by Sintenis. 
Recent authors do not seem to have taken cognizance of this weed, although it was 
already established in Louisiana and other Southern States in Doctor Gray’s time. 
This author gave an account of the plant in the Synoptical Flora of North America.‘ 
1Consp. Regn. Veg. 31. 1835, Tlustr. Ind. Bot. 2: 115. pl. 188. 1850. 
* Nat. Syst. ed. 2. 238. 1836. 421:10. 1886. 
