M(ea.'] LXXVIII. GENTIANEiE. 371 



Flowers jinle yellow, 5-merous, in loose cymes 1.5. ovata. 



Kowcrs nearly white, 4-mcrous, in compact cymes 2. S. albidijlora. 



1. S. ovata, n. Br. Prod. 453. A glabrous, erect, simple or sliglifly 

 Iji-anrlied animal, rarely exceeding 6 to 8 in. antl sometimes not above half 

 tLat height. Leaves iu distant pairs, sessile, ovate or orbicular-cordate, 

 rarely above I in. long. Flowers small, pale yellow^, in a rather loose termi- 

 nal dichotomous cyme, those in the forlcs very shortly pedicellate. Eracts 

 narrow, acute. Calyx-segments about 2 lines long, lanceolate, acute, promi- 

 nently keeled or almost winged. Corolla as long as the calyx, the lobes 

 naich shorter than the tube. Anthers linear, tipped with a gland, recurved 

 after fading. Stvle usually short. Capsule oblong.— Griseb. in DC. Prod, 

 ix. 53; Hook, f! Fl. Tasm. i. 270; Excicmn ovatum, Labill. Fl. Nov. lloll. 

 i. 38. t. 52 ; Erythraa Morafolia, Lehm. PI. Preiss. ii. 239. 



N.S.Wales. Port Jaclcson, R. Brown., WooUs ; betwecu the Upper Bo-an and 



i^chlati rivers, L. Morton. , oi ■ t rr; 



Victoria. Common about Melbourne, Adamson, Harvey, and others ; bkipton, 11 haa ; 



Wendu Vale, Robertson. , , ^ r.- i w i 



Tasmania. Port Dalrymple, i?. Brown. ; common in pasture lands at Circular Head 



anil I auuceston, /. T). Hooker and others. _ r , j tt ^^ 



S.Australia. J?.,gle Ran-c, Gawler Town, F. Mueller; Kangaroo Island, _7Z-^«r^«rW^. 

 ^W. Australia. °Swan River. Bru>.n»o«d, \st Coll.; Godench district Pm.^j/. 

 19C2 ; grassy places, Blackwood river, Ohlfeld ; basaltic ridges, Stirling Range, F. MueUe>. 



2. S. albidiflora, F. Maell. in Trans. Fldl. Soc. Vict. I 46, and in 

 Sook. Kew Journ. viii. 164. A small, glabrous, erect, nearly simple annual 

 ^ith the foliage and habit of the smaller specimens of S. ovata except tliat 

 tlie cyme is usually more simple and compact. Floral leaves and bracts sma 1, 

 ovate, obtuse. Calyx-segments 4, ovate or broadly oblong, obtuse scarcely 

 l^eeled except-at the basef Corolla whitish, nearly as bug as the calyx, witli 

 4 short, broadly ovate, obtuse lobes.— Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. n. 367. 



Victoria. Saline pastures, Port Phillip to Port Fairy, Mount Emn Creek, F. 



Mueller. 

 Tasmania. Near George Town, C. Stuart. 



2. EEYTHil.aiA, Pers. 

 Calyx more or less 5- or 4-lobed. Corolla-tube cylindrical ; lobes 5 or 4, 

 n"-eading, contorted in the bud. Stamens inserted in the tube janthen, 

 opening in longitudinal slits, at length spirally twisted. Ovaiy l-ccl e . 

 )^Hh 2 parietal placentas ; style deciduous ; stigma capitate o 2- obecl. 

 Capsule 2-valved, the margins of the valves involute and l^earing the placen- 

 t^f: Seeds numerous, small.-Aunuals. Leaves opposite. T^^"^^ l^"\ 

 J-^'ite or yellow, in dichotomous terminal cymes, either corymbose «ith small 

 "•facts, or with few elongated leafy branches. 



The genus is widely spread over the temperate regions of the globe, and occurs also wi^bm 

 fte tropics. The only Australian species is also in some of the Pacific i.laud., and 

 scarcely distinct from a common Mediterranean one. 



1. E. australis, R. Br. Prod. 451. An erect glabrous annual from 

 ""'ler 6 iu. to li ft. high, the branches few and not very sP'-'^f'^''^' ^;'^^'! 

 8f sile, ovate-oblong elliptical or lanceolate, mostly obtuse, the lower ones 

 stem. clasping, rarelv 1 in. long. Flowers nearly sessile along the moie or 



