IIypobriciha. LYTIIRACEvE. 479 



Damp pine barrens, N. Carolina ! to Florida ! and Louisiana I Juiic- 

 Aug. — Flowers rather small : petals setaceously mucronate. 



R. lincarifolia (Poir.) is Ludwigia altornifolia, fide DC. 



Order LIII. LYTHRACEiE. Juss. 



Sepals combined into a 4-7-tootlicd or lobcd calyx ; the lobes 

 valvato or distant in sestivation ; the sinuses sometimes produced 

 into accessory lobes or processes. Petals alternate with the proper 

 lobes of the calyx and inserted on its throat, very deciduous, some- 

 times wanting. Stamens inserted into the tube of the calyx below 

 the petals, equal to them in number, or 2-4 times as many, rarely 

 fewer : anthers short, introrse. Ovary enclosed in but free from 

 the calyx, 2-4-celled, with numerous ovules in each cell ; the 

 placentce in the axis : style filiform, sometimes short or almost 

 none : stigma usually capitate. Capsule membranaceous, surrounded 

 by the calyx, often 1-celled by the obliteration of the dissepiments, 

 dehiscent either longitudinally or irregularly. Seeds numerous and 

 small, or rarely few and large, anatropous, destitute of albumen. 

 Cotyledons fiat and foliaceous. — Herbs, rarely shrubs or trees, with 

 usually 4-sided branches, and opposite or seldom alternate entire 

 exstipulatc leaves, without glands or dots. Flowers axillary, or 

 (by the reduction of the leaves) in terminal racemes or spikes. 



Lagerstr<Eniia Indica occurs in Drummond's New Orleans collection ; but the 

 plant has probably escaped from the gardens. 



1. HYPOBRICHIA. M. O. Curtis, mss. (1836) 



Ptilina, Nutt. mss. (1838) 



Calyx hemispherical-campanulate, not bracteolatc at the base, 4-lobed : 

 accessory teetli none or mere callous points. Petals none. Stamfens 2-4. 

 Ovary globose, 2-cclledr style almost none: stigma 2-lobed. Capsule 

 globose, very lliin and membranous, 2-celled, bursting irregulaily : placenta 

 globose, thick. Seeds numerous (rather large for the size of the capsule), 

 obovate-oblong, ascending; the testa membranaceous. — A submersed aquatic 

 herb (with somewhat the habit of Callitriche autumnalis), witli ojjposite 

 and crowded linear pellucid leaves, and minute axillary sessile Howers. 



Except in its peculiar habit, this plant differs very little from Ammannia. Mr. 

 Curtis sent us specinens several years since, under the present name, and with 

 an accurate description ; but he was not aware of its identity with the Pcplis 

 diandra of Nuttall. 



