Spermacock. RUBlACEiE. 27 



the face. — Herbaceous or rarely suflTrutescent plants (chiefly tropical), Avith 

 linear, oblong, or roundish leaves. Stipules cohering with both petioles, 

 sheathing, fringed with several bristles. Flowers small, axillary, sessile, 

 crowded or in whorls, usually pale blue or white. 



Spermacoce, Borreria, and Diodia, differ only in the dehiscence of the fmit : in 

 the first, one carpel opens while tiie other remains closed ; in the second, both are 

 dehiscent ; in the third, bodi are indehiscent. 



1. S. glabra (Michx.) : herbaceous, perennial, procumbent, glabrous; 

 leaves lanceolate ; whorls many-flowered ; calyx 4-toothed ; corolla cam- 

 panulate-funnel-form, a little longer than the calyx, very woolly in the 

 throat ; anthers included, nearly sessile at the base of the tube ; style very 

 short; stiijma 2-lobed ; fruit turbinate.— Mic/tr. / ^. 1. p. 82; PursJi,Jl. 1. 

 p. 105. 



Banks of rivers, Western and South Western States! Middle Florida, 

 Dr. Chapman..' Texas, Drummond! .Tuly-Aug. — Stem branching, 1-2 

 feet long ; the branches somewhat quadrangular. Leaves 1-3 inches long, 

 acute, attenuate at the base. Stipules with 5-6 subulate bristles, which are 

 several times longer than the sheath. Whorls 10-20-flowered. Flowers 

 scarcely more than 1^ line long. Teeth of the calyx lanceolate. _ Corolla 

 white; the lobes semi-oblong. Style almost wanting: stigma _ with 2 di- 

 versing lobes. Capsule chartaceous ; the ceUs tardily separating. Seeds 

 atta'ched by the middle of the face to the placenta. Embryo in the axis of 

 cartilaginous albumen : cotyledons oblong : radicle pointing downwards. — 

 The plant becomes blackish in drying. 



2. S. Chapmanii: perennial'? stem herbaceous, sparingly branched, slight- 

 ly angled with 4 elevated lines, glabrous ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute, 

 attenuated at the base into a petiole, somewhat scabrous above ; stipules with 

 5-6 bristles, which are rather longer than the sheath ; flowers in dense axilla- 

 ry clusters ; corolla funnel-form,' 3 times as long as the calyx; stamens ex- 

 serted ; style long and slender; stigma indistinctly 2-lobed ; capsule oblong- 

 pyriform, crowned with 4 calyx-teeth. 



Middle Florida, on the banks of the Aspalaga River, Dr. Chapman! and 

 in Louisiana ! — Stem about 2 feet high. Leaves an inch and a half long, 

 rather strongly marked beneath with the simple oblique veins. Clusters of 

 flowers denle, often half an inch in diameter. Calyx slightly hairy; the 

 teeth lanceolate. Corolla 3 lines long, white 1 Filaments slender, inserted 

 in the throat of the corolla : anthers oblong. Style glabrous, scarcely ex- 

 serted. Capsule coriaceo-crustaceous, dehiscent when mature, and leaving 

 the thin dissepiment adhering to one of the eel Is.— Nearly allied to S. tenuior; 

 but that species has a short obovate fruit, and very short included stamens and 

 style. We have specimens from Louisiana (in flower, without fruit), but 

 have no memorandum of the source from which they were derived ; in these 

 the lobes of the corolla are sprinkled, both internally and externally, with 

 short, flattish, apparently deciduous hairs. 



3. S. tenuior (Linn.) : stem annual, branching ; the branches obtusely 

 angled, glabrous or somewhat scabrous; leaves lanceolate, with short petioles, 

 scabrous on the margin and upper surface ; stipules with 5-6 bristles, which 

 are rather longer tha^i the sheath ; whorls few, many-flowered ; corolla some- 

 what campanulate, the tube scarcely twice the length of the calyx ; stamens 

 much siiorter than the corolla ; style the length of the stamens ; stigma 2- 

 lobed ; capsule obovate, crowned with 4 calyx-teeth. — Linn. spec. 1. p. 102 ; 

 Lam. ill. t. 62, /. 1 ; A. Rich, mem. Rub. I. c. t. 4, no. 2 ; DC. prodr. A. p. 

 552. S. verticillis tenuioribus. Dill. Elth. t. 277, f. 359. 



Key West, Florida, Mr. Blodgett .'—Stem 8-12 inches long, in our speci- 



