m MORTUS JAMAICENSI9. mvz* 



2. MULT1FLORA. MANY-FLOWERED. 



Fiect, branched; leaves cordate, ciiiate on t,;e edge and sheaths; peduncles 

 clustered, axillary ; flowers three-stamened. 



From one to two feet high; stem herbaceous, somewhat pointed, round, striated, 

 fmooth ; branches from the sheaths of the leaves shortish, erect, leaves alternate, ses- 

 sile, sheathing at the. base, cordate ovate acute, an inch long, somewhat striated with. 

 longitudinal nerves, smooth on both sides, somewhat filiate on the edge; sheaths short, 

 ffiib-c\ 'lmdri or ovate, somewhat ventiicose, membranaceous, striated, ciliate fit the 

 edge. Peduncles' from the sheaths of the terminating leaves, two or three together, 

 commonly shorter than the leaves, erect, many-flowered, rough-haired. Flowers ten 

 to twelve in little umbels, pedicelled, small: pedicels unequal, shorter than the pe- 

 duncles. There are a few little ciliate bractes at the base of the pedicel-.; calyx -leaves 

 acute, brownish-greeri, pubescent ; petals less than the calyx, or equal to it, ovate, 

 white, caducous, filaments three, shorter than the petals; anthers cordate; germ 

 roundish-three cornered ; style thick, very short; stigmas three, white-villose ; cap- 

 sule roundish, acuminate, place on the permanent calyx ; seeds solitary, roundkh, 

 flatted a little, umlilic-ate, hollowed, black. Native of Jamaica m. mountain woods.- 

 Shorn ts, 



3. CORDIFOMA. TIEAKT-LEAVF.IV. 



Creeping, filiform, leaves cordate; peduncles. terminating, solitary, many-. 

 flowered. 



Tiiis is a small herbaceous annual plant; radicles numerous, whitish: stem tender, 

 sheathed, jointed at the base, round, succulent: the brancblets short, coming cut below 

 the sheaths of the leaves, depressed, ascending, rooting. Leaves subsessile, sheathing at 

 the base, alternate, small, cordate-ovate, with a very short point, entire^ nerveless, 

 netted-veineJ, bright green, sub-diaphanous ; sheaths short, surrounding the stem, 

 filiate at the jaws. Peduncles longer than the leaves, rect, flowering at the top ; 

 flowers three to five minute, on short pedicels, clustered in umbellats, with two or 

 three very minute ovate bractes, ciliate at the edge, under their 1 :;se ; pedicels bent 

 down after flowering : calyx leaves pubescent, green except the base, which is brown : 

 petals bigger than the calyx leaves, cordate-ovate, acute, white, caducous ; nectaries 

 none; filaments very short, uniform, naked at the base, not hairy; anthers twin 

 pellucid, with roundish cells ; germ roundish-three-cornered, pellucid ; style thickish ; 

 stigma subcapitate, trifid, pubescent; capsule three-cornered, opening at the top ; 

 cells two-seeded ; seeds roundish. Native of Jamaica, in moist shady grassy parts of 

 high mountains; flowering in autumn. Swartz. 



4. DISCOLOR. TWO-COLOUBED. 



Stemless, even, bractes equitant compressed, leaves lanceolate, coloured un- 

 derneath. 



Root perennial, vertical, fleshy, knotty ; leaves radical, numerous, embracing each 

 other, spreading, a foot long, sharpish, entire, fleshy, slightly ribbed, smooth en both 

 sides, a little downy at the edge of the base, green above, bright purple on the mary 

 gins a-od under side, the younger ones somewhat channelled; stipules none; stalks 

 axillary, four times shorter than the leaves, solitary, erect, simple, rarely divided, a 

 little compressed, smooth, whitish : external bractes she.athrhke, blightly ribbed, pur- 

 plish.; 



