Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 199 



leaves ; tlie leaflets obcordate, the stipules adnate to the petiole. 

 jFZott-ers sub-umbellate on 2- to many-fid, setaceously bracteolate peduncles. 

 Sepals obtuse. Petals obcordate, yellow. Fruiting pedicels often de- 

 pressed. Capsules sub-cylindric, tomentose, many-seeded. Seeds trans- 

 versely striate. Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. I, 436 ; Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. I, 

 pt. '2. p. 135 ; Boiss. Fl. Orient, i., 866 ; Wall. Cat. 4347 ; Koxb. Fl.Ind. 

 ii. 457 ; W. & A. Prodr. 142. 0. repens, Thunb ; Wight Ic. t. 18 ; 

 Blume Bijdr. 243. 0. pusilla, Salisb. ; Roxb. I.e. 



Perak : by the sides of damp foot-paths near the bases of the hills. 

 Penang : on Government Hill, Curtis. 



2, BiOPHTTDM, De Cand. 



Annual, rarely perennial herbs, with simple or branched stems. 

 Leaves abruptly piunate, fascicled or almost whorled at the top of the 

 stem ; leaflets opposite, oblique ; petiole swollen at the base. Peduncles 

 terminal, pedicels umbelled. Flowers small, yellow, or white. Sepals 

 5, lanceolate, acuminate. Petals 5. Stamens 10 ; filaments free, 5 outer 

 smaller. Styles 5, stigmas notched at the apex or 2-fid. Capsule ovoid 

 or oblong, or subglobose, splitting loculicidally sometimes to the base 

 into 5 spreading valves. Seeds as in Oxalis. — Distrib, Tropical Asia, 

 Africa, and America. Species about 20. 



Leaflets 8 to 20 pairs, equal-sided, glabrous, 

 their bases truncate, slightly oblique : flower- 

 pedicels usually shorter than the sepals, petals 

 yellow ... ... ... ... 1. jB. sensitivum. 



Leaflets 18 to 25 pairs, unequal- sided, sparsely 

 hispid on upper surface, their bases obliquely 

 truncate ; flower-pedicels longer than the 

 sepals, petals white... ... ... 2. B. adianf aides. 



1. BioPHTTUM SENSITIVUM, DO. Prod. I, 690. stem 4 to 10 in. long, 

 hispidulous, erect or decumbent, bearing at its apex 8 to 20 pinnate 

 leaves 1*5 to 5 in. long ; leaflets 6 to 15 pairs, the lower pairs oblong, 

 the upper pair obovate-oblong, the apices of all obtuse, sometimes 

 mucronate, the bases truncate, subequal, glabrous, "25 to '5 in. long. 

 Peduncles variable in length, sometimes nearly as long as the leaves, 

 pubei^ulous, each bearing at its apex a bracteolate umbel of 10 or 12 

 flowers ; bracteoles setaceous, as long as the flower pedicels, pedicels 

 pubescent, as long as the sepals. Petals yellow. Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. 

 I, 436; Roxb. Fl. Ind. II, 457 ; W. and A. Prod. 162; Bot. Reg. XXXI, 

 t. 68 ; Wall. Cat. 4843 C. E. 



Malacca : Griffith. Penang, on the coast, Curtis ; and probably in 

 the other provinces. 



441 



