192 



SCROPHULARIACEAE. 



VOL. III. 



14. BRAMIA Lam. Encycl. i : 459. 1783. 



[MONNIERA P. Br. Civ. & Nat. Hist. Jam. 269. pi. 28. f. 3. Hyponym. 1755. Not L. 1759.] 

 [HERPESTIS Gaertn. Fruct. & Sem. 3 : 186. pi. 214. 1805.] 



Diffuse or prostrate herbs, with opposite mostly entire obtuse leaves, and small peduncled 

 flowers, mostly solitary in the axils. Calyx subtended by 2 bracts, 5-parted, the upper seg- 

 ment the broadest. Corolla blue or white, nearly regular, the tube cylindric, the limb nearly 

 equally 5-lobed. Stamens 4, didynamous, included. Style slender; stigma capitate, or 2- 

 lobed. Capsule globose or ovoid, septicidally dehiscent. Seeds numerous. [From Brami, 

 a Malabar name.] 



About 20 species, natives of warm and tropical regions. Type species : Bramia indica Lam. 



Leaves spatulate or cuneate; capsules acuminate at the apex. i. B. Monniera. 



Leaves obovate or orbicular-obovate ; capsules blunt at the apex. 2. B.rotundifolia. 



i. Bramia Monniera 



Drake. Monnier's Hedge-Hyssop. Fig. 3781. 



Gratiola Monniera L. Cent. PI. 2. 1756. 

 Herpestis Monniera H.B.K. Nov. Gen. 2: 366. 1817. 

 M. Monniera Britton, Mem. Torr. Club 5 : 292. 1894. 

 Bacopa Monniera Wettst. in Engler & Prantl, Nat. 



Pfl.4 3b : 77- 1891. 

 Bramia Monniera Drake, Fl. Polyn. Franc. 142. 1892. 



Perennial, glabrous, fleshy ; stem creeping, root- 

 ing at the nodes, branched, 6'-i8' long. Leaves 

 spatulate or cuneate-obcordate, sessile, rounded 

 at the apex, entire, or sparingly denticulate, 3"- 

 10" long, i"-2i" wide; peduncles mainly in alter- 

 nate axils, slender, 2-bracteolate at the summit, in 

 fruit longer than the leaves; flowers pale blue, 5" 

 long; upper calyx-segment ovate, acute; corolla 

 obscurely 2-lipped; stamens nearly equal; stigma 

 slightly 2-lobed; capsule ovoid, acute, shorter 

 than the calyx. 



On shores, near the coast, Maryland to Florida, 

 Texas and Mexico. Widely distributed in tropical 

 regions of the Old World and the New. June-Oct. 

 Herb-grace. Water-hyssop. 



2. Bramia rotundifolia (Michx.) Britton. 



Fig. 3782. 



M. rotundifolia Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 22. 1803. 

 Herpestis rotundifolia Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 418. 



1814. 

 Bacopa rotundifolia Wettst. in Engler & Prantl, 



Nut. Pfl. 4 3b : 76. 1891. 



Perennial by stolons, succulent ; stems creep- 

 ing and spreading, branched or simple, villous- 

 pubescent, i-2 long. Leaves obovate or or- 

 bicular, palmately veined, entire, or slightly 

 undulate, narrowed to a sessile or clasping 

 base, i'-i' broad, glabrous, not punctate; pe- 

 duncles stout, shorter than the leaves, solitary 

 or 2 together in the axils, longer than the 

 flowers ; flowers blue, 3"-4" long ; upper calyx- 

 segment oval; corolla 2-lipped, longer than 

 the calyx ; stamens approximate in pairs ; 

 stigma 2-lobed ; disk obsolete ; capsule oblong, 

 obtuse, ii" high, at length 4-valved, shorter 

 than the calyx. 



On muddy shores, Illinois to South Dakota, 

 Tennessee and Texas. June-Sept. 



Round-leaved Hedge-Hyssop. 



