3S2 LXXViTi. GENTIANE.E. [^Liparoplylhm. 



tapering- into n sliort style, with 2 short Lroad stigniatic lobes. Fruit about 

 ■^ ill. diameter. Seeds orbicular, souioAvbat compressed. — LhuiiaulhiUiim or 

 ViUarHia Gunnii, Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 368. 



Tasmania, Wet sandy soil on the margins of alpine lakes, Gttmi, 



Obder lxxix. hydrophyllace^. 



(IT) Jropliyllaccse and Ilydroleaceoe, DC.) 



Flowers rerriilar. Calyx free, of 5 divisions. Corolla with a short or 

 rnrely elongated tube, and 5 spreading lobes, imbricate and sometimes con- 

 torted in the hud. Stamens 5, inserted at the base of the corolla-tuhe aiul 

 alternating with its lobes; anthers 3-celled, the cells opening in longitiuliual 

 slits. Ovary supeiior, entire, either 1-celled with 2 parietal or free placentas 

 * or rarely 2-celled with the placentas on the dissepiment; style terminal, bifid 

 or divided to the base into 2 distinct styles; stigmas obtuse or capitate; 

 ovules numerous or rarely reduced to 2 to each placenta and then laterally 

 attached. Fruit a capsule, opening in 2 valves, the margins alternating witli 

 the placentas or rarely opposite the dissepiment. Seeds with a tliin usiuilly 

 reticulate testa, and copious fleshy albumen. Embryo straight, usually small 

 and distant from the hilum.— Herbs or rarely uuderslirubs, often hi-^pid- 

 Leaves alternate or rarely the lower ones opposite, entire lobed or divided. 

 Flowers usually blue or white, in one-sided spikes or racemes, often rolled 

 hack \yhen yoiTug and sometimes branching into dichotomous cymes as in 

 Eoraginese or forming small and compact cymes or clusters. Bracts usually 

 present under the pedicels and often leaf-like; bracteoles rarely present. 



A small Order, chiefly x\merican. The only Australian genus is also American, but ex- 

 tends nito tropical Asia and Africa, and differs'from the remainder of the Order iu its cora- 

 plctely 2-celled ovary and capsule, and in the septifragal dehiscence of the latter. 



1. HYDROLEA, Linn. 



hort 



Calyx divided nearly to the base. Corolla almost rotate, with a very s 

 tube. Ovary 2.celled, with very numerous ovules in each cell on a broad spoi^SJ' 

 placenta attached along the central line to the dissepiment. Styles 2. ^^P 

 sule opening in 2 valves parallel to the dissepiment.— Herbs or undershrubs. 

 Leaves entire. Flowers blue, usually in short and compact racemes or 



cvmes. 



m 



A genus of few species, all apparently American, incluJiDg the two AustraliaQ ones, " 

 which one and perhaps both are also iu the tropical regions of the Old AVorld. 



Anmml, 0abroiis or nearly so, without spines ^ . H. zeylanka- 



'----' ■ - will, nTllWv .nines i. H. spinosa. 



armed 



1. K. zeylaiiica, VaJd ; Chois. in DC. Frod. x. 180. Said to lie 



ahyays annual, but the stems creep and root at the base often to a considc ' 

 able length, ascendin ' ' - ■ ^ ^ - "<■ tue 



inflorescence and c 



narrowed at the base and" sometimes Xrtiv'petiolare^mostry U to 2| '" 

 long, riowers in rather compact simple or 'branched racemes or cyines " 

 the upper axils, usually sliorter than the leaves or the upper ones forming 



r 



' Liii. oiciijs creep ana root at tue oase oiu-ii lu u. -"- , 

 Hng to about 1 ft., the whole plant quite glabrous or u 

 ■alyxes hispid witli a few hairs. Leaves lanceolate, en"rc, 



