372 tetrandria monogynta. Spermacoce. 



Tardavel. R/ieed. Hort. Mai. 9. p. 149. t. 76. The leaves 

 however are a little too sharp for our Coromandel plant. 



Stem short and generally annual. Loner branches oppo- 

 site, superior alternate, round, coloured, very hairy, some- 

 what scabrous, weak, spreading and variously curved. 

 Leaves opposite, sessile, round, obovate, or nearly oval, some- 

 what acute ; hairy on both sides, edges recurved and more 

 or less curled. Connecting stipule with three, four, or five fi- 

 liform processes. Flowers axillary, generally in pairs, though 

 often several together, but expanding in succession, sessile, 

 small, purple. Calyx, the four divisions or in this species ra- 

 ther leaflets, lanceolate, nearly as long as the tube of the co- 

 rol. Ctirol sub-campanulate, half four-cleft. Stamens as long 

 as the segments of the corol. Style as long as the stamens. 

 Stigmas two, two-lobed, segments revolute. Capsule oval, 

 two-celled. Partition membranaceous. Seed solitary, oval, 

 equally obtuse at each end. 



12. S. articnlaris. Linn. sp. pi. ed. Willd. i. 572. 



Annual, diffuse, four-sided. Leaves opposite, sessile, broad- 

 lanceolate; connecting" stipules from three to five-bristled. 

 Flowers verticelled. Corol infundibuliform, four times long- 

 er than the calyx. Stamens and style erect. 



A native of the sandy soil on the coast of -Coromandel 

 near the sea, and in flower the greatest part of the year. 



Root generally annual. Stem scarcely any, but many dif- 

 fuse straggling, four-sided, alternate, hispid branches from 

 one to two feet in length. Leaves opposite, sessile, lanceolate, 

 a little hairy ; veins simple, from one to two inches long, and 

 half an inch broad. Connecting stipules cup-shaped, with 

 from three to six bristles from each side. Flowers axillary, 

 sessile, two, three, or four, expanding in succession from the 

 same axill. Calyx with slender, linear divisions. Corol 

 infundibuliform. Tube slender, three or four times longer 

 than the caylx. Stamens erect. Stigma erect, bifid ; lobes 



