( 3066 ) 

 Pladera decussata. Decussate Pladera. 



Class and Order. 

 Tetrandria Monogynia. 



( Nat. Ord. — GENTiANEiE. ) 



Generic Character. 



Cat. elongatus, 4-dentatus. Cor. infundibuliformis, Jim- 

 bo irregulari. Stamen unicum reliquis minus. Stigma bi- 

 lobum. Capsula supera, 1-locularis, 2-bivalvis. Semina 

 numerosa. 



Specific Character and Synonyms. 



Pladera* decussata; annua, caule erecto 4-alato, ramis 

 decussatis, foliis ovato-lanceolatis 3-nerviis, floribus 

 terminalibus trichotome paniculatis. Roxb. 



Pladera decussata. Roxb. in Fl. Ind. v. 1. p. 478. Spreng. 

 Syst. Veget. v. I. p. 427. 



Descr. Root small, annual, fibrous. Stem scarcely a 

 span high, erect, glabrous, four-sided, the angles four- 

 winged, branched, the branches decussate, equally four- 

 winged. Leaves few, opposite : the lowest roundish -oval, 

 the rest ovato-lanceolate, all three-nerved, entire ; the up- 

 permost small, bracteiform. Floivers in a trichotomous 

 panicle ; peduncles and pedicels four-winged : the flowers 

 jointed on the pedicels. Calyx elongated with four winged 

 keels, four-toothed. Corolla, with the tube as long as the 

 calyx, infundibuliform ; the limb three-lobed, lobes round- 

 ed, the lower one bifid, (two united,) keeled at the back. 

 Stamens four, of which three are alternate with the large 



lobes, 



From ir\ct$afos,full of moisture; perhaps from growing in moist situa- 

 «ons, certainly not from the nature of the plant itself. 



