392 PLANTAGINE (Cooke), [ Plantago. 
2-3- (rarely 4-) seeded, 1 of the seeds when 3 usually infertile ; seeds 
reaching 1 lin. long, ellipsoid-oblong, obtuse at both ends, rounded 
on the back, with flattened face, reddish brown. Barn. Monogr. 
Plantag. 22; Decne in DC. Prodr. xiii. i. 729. P. hirsuta, Thunb. 
Fl. Cap. ed. i. 541 ; Barn. Monogr. Plantag. 21. 
Coast Recron: Cape Div. ; various localities near Cape Town, Milne, 163! 
Burchell, 8386! Drége! Wallich! Bolus, 3066! 4766! Wolley-Dod, 2376! 
Stellenbosch Div. ; near Somerset West, Bolus, 2971! Caledon Div. ; Zoetemelks 
Valley, Burchell, 7569! Bredasdorp Div. ; Zeekoe Vley, 100 ft., Schlechter, 10551 ! 
Humansdorp Div.; Kromme River Heights, Bolus, 2394! Uitenhage Div. ; 
Zwartkops River, Drege! Witte Klip, MacOwan, 1940! and without precise 
locality, Zeyher! Port Elizabeth Div.; Cape Recife, Burchell, 4391! East 
London Div.; seashore on rocks near Bats Cave, Galpin, 2809! near seashore 
West Bank, East London, 50 ft., Galpin, 5847! Rattray, 229! 
Eastern Recion : Tembuland ; Umtata, 2000 ft., Bawr, 450! 
OrpDerR CVI]. NYCTAGINEZ:. 
(By Dr. T. Cooker.) 
Flowers hermaphrodite (rarely unisexual), regular, sometimes 
dimorphous ; inflorescence various ; bracts often involucrate, free or 
connate. Perianth monophyllous, small, herbaceous or petaloid, 
persistent, often accrescent ; tube short or long, sometimes circum- 
scissile above the base; limb 3-5-toothed or lobed, persistent or 
deciduous. Stamens 1-30, hypogynous ; filaments small, usually 
unequal, free or connate into a cup at the base, involute in bud; 
anthers 2-celled, dorsifixed, included or exserted, dehiscing longi- 
tudinally. Ovary 1-celled ; ovule solitary, erect, campylotropous ; 
style filiform, involute in bud ; stigma small, simple or multifid. 
Fruit (anthocarp) membranous, indehiscent, enclosed in the persis- 
tent base of the perianth-tube, costate, sulcate or winged, sometimes 
glandular. Seed erect ; testa adherent ; albumen soft or floury ; 
embryo straight or curved ; radicle inferior. 
Herbs, shrubs or trees; leaves usually opposite, entire ; stipules 0 ; flowers in 
terminal or axillary cymes, panicles or corymbs ; bracts often forming a brightly 
coloured involucre. 
Distrip. Species about 150, chiefly American, a few in India, the Mascarene 
Islands and Pacific Islands. 
I. Mirabilis—A herb. Leaves opposite. Flowers hermaphrodite. Bracts 
, connate, 
Il, Boerhaavia.—Herbs. Leaves opposite. Flowers hermaphrodite. Bracts 
small, free, 
III, Pisonia.—Shrubs. Leaves alternate or opposite. Flowers polygamo- 
dicecious. Practs small, free. 
IV. Phwoptilam—A spiny shrub. Leaves fascicled. Flowers polygamo- 
dicecious. Bracts small, free, 
