LYTHRACEiE. 

 Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 100 



AMMANNIA. 



Calyx bracteolated at the base, more or less campanulate, 

 4-7-lobed ; lobes flat or incurved, the angles usually expanding 

 into spreading accessory teeth or horns. Petals 4-5, or wanting. 

 Stamens as many or twice as many as the calycine lobes. 

 Ovary 2— 3-4-celled. Style shortish or elongated. Stigma ca- 

 pitate. Capsule ovate-globose, membranaceous, either bursting 

 transversely, the upper part falling away with the style, or open- 

 ing by valves. Seeds numerous, attached to thick central pla- 

 centas. — Herbaceous plants growing in wet soil or in water, 

 all nearly quite glabrous. Stems 4-angled or occasionally te- 

 rete when old. Leaves opposite, quite entire. Flowers axil- 

 lary, sessile, or shortly peduncled, bracteolated at the base. 

 W. and A. 



294. A. vesicatoria Roxb.jl. ind. i. 426. — Common in Hindo- 

 stan in cultivated ground. (Daud-maree Beng.) 



Stem erect, from 6 to 36 inches high, obsoletely 4-sided, much 

 branched. Lower branches opposite, decussated; upper frequently 

 alternate. Leaves opposite, sessile, lanceolate, smooth ; those next 

 the flowers much smaller than the others. Corolla 0. Pericarp 

 1-celled, 1-valved, half covered with the calyx. — The whole plant has 

 a strong muriatic smell. Leaves acrid; universally employed by the na- 

 tives of India to raise blisters in rheumatic pains, fevers, &c. The fresh 

 leaves bruised, perform their office effectually in half an hour. Roxb. 



HEIMIA. 



Calyx hemispherical-campanulate, bracteolated at the base, 

 with 6 erect lobes, and as many alternating horn-shaped patent 

 angles. Petals 6, alternate with the erect lobes. Stamens 12, 

 somewhat equal. Ovary sessile, nearly globose, 4-celled. Capsule 

 included within the calyx. Seeds numerous, minute, wingless. 

 — Glabrous herbaceous plants. Peduncles 1-flowered, shorter 

 than the calyx. 



295. H. salicifolia Link, and Otto abbild. t. 28. DC.prodr. 



iii. 89 Nesaea salicifolia HBK. n. g. amer. v'u 192. — New 



Spain on the volcano of Jorullo. 



Leaves ternate or opposite, the upper often alternate, on very short 

 stalks, lanceolate, acute, narrowed to the base. Petals obovate. — 

 A powerful sudorific and diuretic. The Mexicans consider it a patent 

 medicine in venereal disorders, and call it Hanchinol. 

 149 L 3 



