860 A FLORA OF MANILA 0 
valvate. Carpels laterally compressed, small, the secondary ridges none. 
(Greek “water” and “a flat cup.”) 
Species 50 or 60, in all tropical and some subtemperate countries, 3 or 4 
in the Philippines. 
1. H. ROTUNDIFOLIA Roxb. 
A delicate, creeping, glabrous or nearly glabrous plant, the stems rooting 
at the nodes. Leaves orbicular or subreniform, thin, about 1 cm in diameter, 
cordate, margins somewhat crenately lobed, the lobes short, with 2 or 3 
crenate teeth. Umbels very small, capitate, few-flowered, the peduncles 
slender, about one-half as long as the petioles. Fruits few, sometimes only 
2 or 3 on a peduncle, less than 1 mm long. 
In gardens, and about houses Singalon, Malate, etc., fi. Dec.-Feb., and 
probably in other months, certainly introduced. Widely distributed in 
tropical Asia. 
3. CENTELLA Linnaeus 
Prostrate herbs rooting at the nodes. Leaves uniform or rounded, deeply 
cordate, toothed, palmately nerved, long-petioled. Umbels simple, axillary, 
few-flowered, the flowers sessile, the bracts small, embracing the flowers. 
Calyx truncate. Petals 5, imbricate. Carpels laterally compressed. the 
secondary ridges as prominent as the primary ones, the pericarp thickened. 
(Name of obscure origin.) 
Species about 20, mostly in South Africa, a single one in the Philippines. 
1. C. ASIATICA (L.) Urban. (Hydrocotyle asiatica L.). Taquip-cohol 
(Tag.). 
A prostrate, sparingly pubescent or nearly glabrous, stoloniferous plant, 
the stems rooting at the nodes. Leaves rounded to reniform, crenate-den- 
tate, deeply cordate, 2 to 5 cm in diameter, the petioles elongated. Pedun- 
cles in pairs or threes, less than 1 cm long, each with usually 3 sessile 
flowers at the apex enclosed by a pair of ovate bracts. Petals dark-purple, 
’ ovate, about 1 mm long. Carpels cylindric-compressed, about 2.5 mm long, 
white or green, reticulate, each with 9 subsimilar longitudinal ridges. 
In open or shaded damp places, banks of rice paddies, etc., fl. Oct.— 
May; widely distributed in the Philippines, probably introduced. Trop- 
ical and subtropical regions generally. 
108. MYRSINACEAE (ARDISIA FAMILY) 
Trees or shrubs, sometimes climbing. Leaves alternate, entire or toothed, 
usually gland-dotted; stipules none. Flowers regular, perfect or polygamo- 
dioecious. Calyx inferior, 4- to 6-toothed. Corolla-tube short or none, the 
segments 3 to 7, usually 5, mostly contorted or imbricate, usually united 
below, rarely free. Stamens as many as the corolla-segments, alternate 
with them, free or adnate to the tube. Ovary globose or oblong, 1-celled; 
ovules few or many, inserted on a free central placenta. Fruit small, 
globose, indehiscent except in the following genus, where it is elongated and 
ultimately dehiscent. 
Genera 33, species nearly 1,100 in all tropical and subtropical countries, 
8 genera and more than 75 species in the Philippine, a single representative 
in our area. 
