Lawsonia,} LVIII. LYTHRACEE (HIERN). 483 
free, sessile, globose, not included in tube of the calyx, 4-celled. Pla- 
centa central, with 4 lobes projecting into the cells of the ovary. Cap- 
sule globular, bursting irregularly across, 2- or 4-celled ; septa mem- 
branous; pericarp thin, brittle. Seeds large, pyramidal ; testa thick ; 
embryo straight; radicle 4 length of embryo, cylindrical; cotyledons 
thick, % length of embryo, cordate-auricled at base, embracing the 
radicle.—Glabrous shrub with opposite leaves and branches. Inflo- 
rescence in terminal and lateral panicled cymes. Bracts small, de- 
ciduous. 
This genus has but one species, and is widely cultivated. 
1. L. alba, Zam. Enc. iii. 106. Shrub 6 ft. high, with terete stem 
and subterete divaricate branches, of same pale colour throughout. 
Leaves elliptic or obovate, cuneate at base into short petiole, usually 
acute or spinous-pointed at apex, submembranous, entire, 3-1} in. 
long; midrib depressed on upper surface of leaf; lateral veins not con- 
spicuous. Flowers sweet-scented. Pedicels about 1-2 lines long, 
slender, Tube of calyx 4 length of the calyx; lobes pointed. Petals 
greenish-white. Stamens usually 4, alternating with the petals; 
Sometimes more numerous when a pair springs from near the same 
point of the callous ring of the calyx between the petals. Capsule 
$-} in. in diameter. 
The plant is sometimes spinous, and then it is L. spinosa, Linn. ; in other cases it is 
- mermis, Linn, Often cultivated under the name of Henna, and used as a dye. ‘The 
caves are ground in their raw state, and then mixed with lime-juice, to be put on the 
tips of the fingers, either to stain them red or to prevent whitlow. — 
~Pper Guinea. Senegal, Roger! Perrottet. Sierra Leone (in gardens), Barter / 
Nicols | Niger, Barter ! 
Nile Land. Phila, Speke and Grant! Nubia, Kotschy! 
In other countries the stamens are usually 8. 
9. SONNERATTA, Linn. f.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. i. 784. 
Calyx thick, coriaceous, with campanulate or hemispherical tube and 
or 7 lobes as long as the tube valvate in bud, not cornuate. Petals 
“S many as the lobes of the calyx and shorter than them. Stamens 
very numerous, in several rows, inserted on a ring at the top of a peri- 
synous sheath; filaments long; anthers reniform, versatile. Ovary 
aeherent to the tube of the calyx towards its base, depresso-spherical, 
piny-celled ; cells many-ovuled; style straight; stigma subcapitate. 
acentas thick, axile. Fruit many-celled, ultimately free from the 
“wyxand stipitate; cells many-seeded. Seeds curved, angular; testa 
thick, crustaceous ; cotyledons shorter than the terete radicle.—Gla- 
Tous trees or bushes with opposite coriaceous leaves and large flowers. 
A smal] genus, scattered over tropical shores of the Old World. 
1. Ss, acida, Linn. f.; DC. Prod. iii. 231. A bush or small tree with 
terete and opposite branches, tumid at the nodes. Leaves roundly 
oval, with somewhat wavy margins, slightly wedge-shaped Nag base, 
112 
