133 LXV. CAMPANULACEiE. [Pratla. 



the summit between the calyx-lobes nearly flat. Style and stigma of 

 Lobelia, Fruit ovoid or globular, crowned by the calyx-lobes, indehisceut, 

 the pericarp usually succulent. — Herbs, with the liabit of the section Hemi- 

 pogon of Lobelia, usually creeping at the base, the branches sometimes 

 ascending. Flowers white (or blue?) on axillary pedicels, and in most of the 

 Anstntlian species more or less dioecious, by the abortion or sterility of the 

 anthers in the females, and of the ovary, ovuleSj and stigma in the males. 



A small genus, containing, besides the Australian species which are all endemic, five or 



six others dispersed over New Zealand, antarctic and extratropical South America. It 



should prohably \x\Q[ViAeFlddivgtonia,\y\\\c\\ ditfers in the greater irregularity of the corolla, 



and both are only artificially distinguished from Lobelia by the iudehisccut more or less 

 ftucculent fruit. 



Glabrous. Leaves entire or obscurely toothed. 

 Flowers and fruits almost sessile. 



Leaves ovate or orbicular, 1 to 2 lines long 1. P. trrigua, 



■Leaves linear, 3 to 4 lines long 2. P. gelida. 



Pedicels at least as long as the fruit. Leaves llncar-cuneate or ob- 



long-spathukte 3. P. platgcal^x. 



Glabrous. Leaves ovnte or oblong, toothed, i to 1 in. long. Pedi- 

 cels shorter or scarcely longer than the leaves 4. P. ereda. 



Pubescent. Leaves ovate or orbicular. 



Pedicels shorter or scarcely longer than the leaves. Fruit 2 to 3 



lines diameter 5. R puberula. 



Pedicels much longer than the very small leaves. Fruit I to IJ 



lines diameter 6. P^ peduncul^f^' 



_ 1. P^ irrigua, Beufli. A little creeping glabrous perennial, scarcely 

 rising from the gronnd but forming intricate masses of several inches diameter. 



Leaves ovate or orbicular, entire or scarcely toothed, 1 to 2 lines diameter. 

 T'lowers very small, on exceedingly short axillary pedicels or almost sessile. 

 Calyx-lobes lanceolate. Corolla scarcelv more than 1 line long, the lobes 

 narrow, nearly equal, the 2 upper ones ascending and more acute. Stamens 

 glabrous, with a minute bristle on each of the 2 lower anthers. Fruit glo- 

 bular, indehiscent, about li lines diameter, with a thin pericarp. Seeds 

 numerous, but rather large for the fruit, globular, smooth.— Zoid^/m irrigm 

 E. Br. Prod. 563 ; A. DC. Prod. vii. 367- 



Tasmania. 



Kent's gi'oup, Bass's Straits, iJ. Brown {Herb. K Br.). 



2. P. gelida, Beuth. A little creeping glabrous perennial, like P. irrigii^> 

 except that the leaves are linear, obtuse, entire and mostly 3 to 4 lines long. 

 Flowers, as in that species, very small and almost sessile. Stamens the 

 same with a minute bristle on each of the 2 lower anthers. Fruit globular, 

 indehiscent, about \\ lines diameter, with a thin pericarp and rather large 

 globiilar seeds.--Zo5^Z/a gelida, F. Muell. Fragm. iv. 183. 



T T^'^l'^J^^' Summit of Haidinger Range, at an altitude of 5000 to GOOO ft., F. MueUer. 

 1 do not feel certain that this and the preceding species are dioecious, as in the other Atis- 

 trahan Prahashuil think they are. The fruit is certainly that of Prafia, glohular, ^vith- 

 out the conical 2-vaIved apex of the Lobelia capsule. 



3, P. platycalyx^ Bentli, A smaU glabrous creeping or prostrate per- 

 ennial. Leaves from obovate-cuneate and under \ in. long to oblong ox 

 linear and above 1 in. long, obtuse, quite entire, more or less^narrowed into 

 a petiole, thick and smooth. Flowers small, on verj^ short axillary pedicels. 



