Slatice.'] LXVIII. PLUMI^AGINE^, 2C7 



togetlier in little spikelets, forming one-sided spikeSj arranged in dicliotomous 

 or tricliotomous panicles, or rarely in simple spikes. 



The largest genus of the Order, ranging chiefly over maritime districts in the northera 

 hemisphere, with very few southeru species. The only Australian oae extends north\var(l as 

 far as Japan, 



r 



1. S. australis, Spreng. Syst. i. 959. Stock short and tliick. Leaves 

 all radical, oboYate-oblong, \\ to 3 in. lon^?, quite entire, narro^vcd into a 

 petiole of very variable length. Scape angular, 9 to 18 in. high, repeatedly 

 forked so as to form a broad corymbose panicle, mth a small green bract 

 under each branch, and in some specimens there are a few entire or forked 

 barren branches, ^ to 1^ in. long, at the base of the panicle. Flowers nu- 

 merous, in short, dense, unilateral' spikes, formed of little clusters or spike- 

 lets of 2 or 3 flowers each, or of single flowers. Calyx-lobes pale pink, 

 ti-oad and undulate, the ribs usually hairy outside at the base, produced into 

 sliort points or almost obtuse. Petals yellow, rather longer than the calyx 

 wHea arst flowering. Seed oblong ; albumen very scanty on one side only 

 of the embryo ; cotyledons oblong ; radicle superior, very short.— Boiss. in 

 DC. Prod. xii. 642 ;" Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 301 ; Taxanthema australis, K. 

 Br. Prod. 426 ; Slatice taxanthema, Eoem. et Sch. Syst. vi. 798. 



Queensland. Port Curtis, M'Gilhvnuj ; Port Denison, Titzalm; Fitzroy river, 



Victoria. Voxi kVazxi,F. Mueller ; ^Qx\.V\i^X\y>,^- Br own, Gann. , ,,.. 



Tasmania. Port Dalrymnle, R. Brown ; comiBon along the coast in mud at high- 

 '^^er mark, /. D. Hooker. 



The species is also in New Caledonia and in Japan, and probably also on the coasts of 

 ^hina for I cannot find any difTerence in the S.japonica, Sieb. et Zacc. ; and S si^iensts, 

 ^^- (Bot. Reg. 1845. t. 63), can scarcely be distluuuished by the calyx-lobes usually lather 

 more obtuse. The yellow flowers readily separate the whole group from the common Euro- 

 Fan ". Limonium. 



3. PLUMBAGO, Linu. 



Calyx tubular, with 5 prominent ribs, more or less glandular-muricate, 



^"Jiug in short teeth. Corolla with a cylindrical tube and spreading lobes. 



Jtaraens hypogynous. Style filiform, with 5 filiform branches sugmatic 



rom the base. Pruit included in the calyx.— Perennials or shrubs, with 



'eaty branches. Flowers sessile, in simple terminal spikes. 



The genus, although comprising but very few species, ranges over the temperate and tro- 

 P regions of the New as well as tlie Old World. The only Australian species is a common 

 Jj'atic one. Another Indian species, distinguished chiefly by its red flowers and more her- 

 b^«eou3 stem, P. rosea, Linn.! is said to have established itself near Rockhampton, in 

 Hl^eensland, as an escape from gardens. 



J: ?' zeylanica, Lhm. ; Boiss. in BO. Prod. ^W. 693 A shrub 



attaining several feet, the lono- weak branches sometimes half-climbing, gla- 

 Ofous except the short, glandular, viscid bristles on the inflorescence, and es- 

 pecially on the calyx. Leaves petiolate, ovate, obtuse acute or acununate. 

 r larger ones 2 to 3 in. long but mostly smaller, the petiole dilated at the 

 ojse into a stem-clasping ring or sometimes forming prominent amieles 

 flowers white, each one sessile within a small broadly ovate acuminate bract 

 7 } much smaller bracteoles. Calyx 4 to 5 lines long, tiie ribs strongly 

 giandiilar-muricate, neither contracted nor expanded at the top. toroila- 



