PLUMBAGINE^E. 889 



1. P. indicum, Lam. — Sphenoclea Pongatium, A. DC. — 1'-3' high, few-branched ; 

 leaves elliptical-lanceolate, quite entire, petioled ; spike3 cylindrical with a conical point, 

 2" long ; seeds minute, cylindrical, smooth : embryo axile. — Hab. Trinidad !, Lockh., Cr., 

 in moist places and savannahs ; [Mexico to Brazil ! ; trop. Africa ! to Egypt ! ; East In- 

 dies !]. 



XCIX. PLANTAGINE.E. 



Flowers apetalous, involucillate, mostly in spikes. Stamens inserted into the scarious 

 calyx (usually called coralla), rarely hypogynous. Stigma with collecting hairs. Ovary su- 

 perior, 2(-4)-celled, rarely simple. Embryo straight, included in albumen. — Herbs; leaves 

 e x stipulate, usually rosulate at the base of a simple scape. 



PLANTAGO, L. 



Calyx 4-fid, supported by a 4-leaved involucel. Stamens 4(-2). Ovary 2(-4)-celled : ovules 

 peltate. Capsule circnmscissile. 



1. P. major, L. Perennial; leaves ovate, long-petioled, palmatinerved, nearly equal- 

 ling the scape ; spike cylindrical ; involucel-Ieaves equal, blunt j calyx-lobes spreading, 

 ovate or lanceolate ; capsule-cells 4-12-seeded .- seeds convex on the placentar, flat on the 

 outer side. 



$. tropica. Leaves dentate towards the base j spike elongated, interrupted at the base ; 

 calyx-lobes lanceolate, pointed ; capsule 24-1 6-seeded. — P. major, £ asiatica, Decaisne. P. 

 asiatica, L. sec. Decaisne {non Ledeb.). 



Hab. p. Jamaica !," Wullschl., Manchester; [S. Thomas !, Brazil ; East Indies to South- 

 ern China ; a. and other forms in all continents]. 



2. P. virginica, L. Annual, hairy ; leaves spathulate or obovate-oblong, 3-5-nerved, 

 remotely denticulate ; spike cylindrical, often interrupted at the base ; involucel-leaves une- 

 qual, 2 posterior roundish ; calyx-lobes erect in the fertile flowers, lauceolate ; capsule-cells 

 1-seeded: seeds concave on the placentar, convex on the outer side. — Scape 9"-2" high, 

 much longer than the leaves; flowers dimorphous, the fertile with included filaments. — 

 Hab. Jamaica !, Wils., in the mountains of S. Andrews, at 4000' alt. ; [Canada to Chiloe]. 



C. PLUMBAGINE.E. 



Calyx mostly scarious. Stamens 5, hypogynous, bearing above their base a dorsal, peta- 

 line appendage, or surrounded by and opposite to the lobes of a crown (the corolla). Ovary 

 simple : styles or style-branches 5i ovule single, hanging from a central cord. Embryo 

 mostly included in amylaceous albumen. — Leaves exslipulate, often rosulate. 



1. STATICE, L. 



Calyx 5(-10)-lobed. Petaline appendages usually distinct. Styles subdistinct, glabrous : 

 stigmas cylindrical. Pericarp membranaceous, indehiscent or circumscssile at the summit. 

 —Leaves usually rosulate ; flowers glomerate or single : the glomerules or floicers supported 

 by 3 distichous bracts, usually in unilateral or distichous compound spikes. 



Sect. LlMONlUM, Boiss. — Petaline appendages distinct nearly to the base, purple or blue. 

 Achenium irregularly rumpent at the base. 



1 S. bahamensis, Gr. (n. sp.). Glabrous, rough with lepidote dots ; leaves spathu- 

 late tapering into the petiole, mucronate, early marcescent ; scape much branched below .- 

 most inferior branches sterile, at length angular : scales deltoid-subulate, rusty, white on 

 the margin • glomerules 3-2-flowered, densely approximate, in unilateral, recurved, sub- 

 corvmbose spikes : inferior bract ovate, blunt, rusty-conaceous, with a white, membrana- 

 ,.pn?, a margin svverior 2-3 times longer, oblong, blunt, herbaceous with a broad, white, 

 C * £,' ThoTder- calyx-tube pilose: lobes white, subdistant, deltoid; anther-cells 

 M po7XT a rZb^^^ many characters of S.caspia.Vf. (belMifolia Goua»,W.), 



