88 PortulacacecB. 



sule very thin, enclosed in the sep. ; seeds numerous, rough, 

 pale brown. 



Dry low country ; rather rare. Haragama ; Kantalai. Fl. all the 

 year. 



Occurs throughout tropical Africa and Asia. 



Short leafy branches in the axils give the appearance of whorled 

 leaves. 



5. POIiVCARPSIA, Lam. 



Erect herbs ; fl. in cymes ; sep. 5, scarious ; pet. 5, entire ; 

 stam. 5 ; ov. i-celled, with a free basal placenta, style short, 

 stigmas 3 ; capsule 3-valved, with 3 or 4 perfect and numerous 

 abortive seeds. — Sp. 24 ; 3 in Fl. B. Ind. 



P. corymbosa, Lam. III. ii. 129 (1793). 



Harm. Mus. 66. Burm. Thes. 184. Fl. Zeyl, n. 100. Achyranthes 

 corymbosa, L. Sp. PI. 305. Thw. Enum. 25. C. P. 2383. 



Fl. B. Ind. i. 245. Wight, Ic. t. 712. Burm. Thes. t. 65, f. 2. 



An erect, annual herb, occasionally somewhat woody 

 below, 6-18 in., slightly branched, glabrous below, pubescent 

 above ; 1. \-\ in., narrowly linear, sessile, mucronate, glabrous, 

 stip. linear-lanceolate, acute, scarious ; fl. numerous, small, 

 crowded in many-stalked, dense, much-branched cymes, form- 

 ing large, flat-topped heads, bracts scarious, silvery, bristle- 

 pointed ; sep. linear-lanceolate, not keeled, very acute, scarious, 

 silvery, veined with red ; pet. very small, much shorter than 

 sep. ; style 3-lobed ; capsule very small, much shorter than 

 Sep., shining, brown. 



Low country, especially in the dry districts, in sandy and rocky 

 ground ; common. Fl. all the year ; pinkish. 



Ranges widely throughout the tropics of the world. 



Hermann gives 'Kiri-henda' as the Sinhalese name, which is more 

 usually applied to the somewhat similar Celosia argentea. 



Very variable in appearance, often dwarf and prostrate. The leaves 

 appear to be whorled owing to the presence of leaf fascicles (short leafy 

 branches) in their axils. 



XV.— PORTULACACE/E. 



Herbs or under-shrubs ; 1. alt. or opp. with or without stip.; 

 fl. regular, bisexual, sessile, terminal ; sep. 2, connate below, 

 free part imbricate, deciduous ; pet. 4 or 5, ^\s\mzX., perigynouSy 

 fugacious; stam. 4-16, perigynous, distinct; ov. adherent to 

 base of sp., and half-inferior, i -celled, ovules numerous on 



