162 



FLORA OF JAMAICA 



Microtea 



cotyledons Hattish-concave, one twice as large as the other ; 

 radicle thick, short. 



Species 10, natives of West Indies and tropical South 

 America. 



M. debilis Sw. Prodr. 53 (1788) & Fl. Inch Occ. 543, /. 12; 

 Moq. in DC. Prodr. .rm. pt. 2, 17 : Griseh. Fl. Br. W. Lid. 59. 



(Fig. 58.) 



Fig. 58. Microtea debilis Sw. 



A, Upper portion of branch x 5. 



B, Flower with part of perianth removed X 10. 

 C, Fruit X 10. 



Sea-coast, Negril, Harris ! Fl. Jam. 10,214. St. Cruz, St. Eustatius, 

 St. Kitts, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, 

 Tobago, Trinidad, Ruatan, tropical America. 



Plant J-l^ ft. Leaves obovate or oblanceolate, 3-7 cm. 1., 1*5-3 "5 

 cm. br. Perianth white, 1 mm. 1. Fruit 1*5 mm. 1., greenish-black 

 covered with a white network uniting the tubercles. 



Family XIX. FICOIDEACE^. 



Herbs. Leaves opposite, alternate or spuriously whorled, 

 entire. Flowers hermaphrodite. Perianth with 5 segments, 

 free from ovary (in W. Indian genera), greenish, imbricate, 

 persistent in fruit. Stamens perigynous or hypogynous, definite 

 or indefinite. Ovary 3-5-celled (1-celled in Trianthema). Styles 

 as many as the cells of the ovary. Fruit a capsule, loculicidally 



