Biophyiwn.l GevaniacecB. 197 



Extremely common throughout the island, especially in cultivated 

 land. Fl. throughout the year ; yellow. 



Found in all Tropical and Temperate countries. 



One of our commonest weeds. The leaves have an acid taste. 



O. violacea L. This I take to be the name of the species which has 

 become a very troublesome weed in some parts of the hill districts in 

 cultivated ground, increasing very rapidly by means of its numerous 

 bulbils. It is a native of the United States, and already recorded in 

 Moon Cat. 36. 



3. BIOPKVTUBX, DC. 



Annual or perennial herbs ; 1. crowded at nodes and ends 

 ■of stem and branches, abruptly pinnate, with a hairy rachis 

 and opposite pairs of oblique, sessile Iflts. ; fl. in small, 

 axillary, stalked umbels, with numerous, rigid, setaceous 

 bracts ; sep. 5, imbricate ; pet. 5, connate into a salver-shaped 

 ■cor.; stam. 10, distinct, 5 inner longer; ov. 5-celled, styles 5 ; 

 fr. and seed as in Oxalis. — Sp. about 20 ; 8 in Fl. B. Ind. 



The fl. are strikingly dimorphic (heterostyled). 

 Annual. Stem unbranched. 



Pedicels longer than sep. Seeds tuberculate . i. B. sensitivum. 

 Pedicels shorter than sep. Seeds transversely 



ribbed 2. B. nervifolium. 



Perennial. Stems proliferously branched. 

 Peduncles longer than leaves ; Iflts. glaucous 



beneath 3. B. nudum. 



Peduncles shorter than leaves ; Iflts. not glaucous. 



Stems erect ; leaves 2-4 in 4. B. intermedium. 



Stems prostrate ; leaves under i in. . . 5. B. proliferum. 



Thwaites (Enum. 409) combines all these under one species, Oxalis 

 sensitiva, L. 



I. B. sensitivum, DC. Prod. i. 690 (1824). Gas-nidikumba, S. 



Herm. Mus. 5. Burm. Thes. 178. Fl. Zeyl. n. 180. Oxalis sensitiva^ 

 L. Sp. PI. 434 ; Moon Cat. 36 ; Thw. Enum. 64, 409. C. P. 1190. 

 Fl. B. Ind. i. 436. Bot. Reg. xxxi. t. 68. 



An annual, stem short, erect, 1-2 in. high, perfectly simple, 

 glabrous or hairy, red ; 1. crowded into a rosette at top of 

 stem, spreading, 1^-3 in., petiole short, Iflts. in 10-16 pairs 

 (rarely fewer), the lower ones much the smaller, terminal pair 

 largest, f in, long, oblong, truncate or subcordate at base, 

 apiculate, glabrous, paler beneath ; fl. 4 in., numerous in the 

 umbel, peduncles erect, slightly exceeding l, stiff, glandular- 

 pubescent, ped, slender, spreading, a little longer than sep., 

 bracts very small, numerous, crowded ; sep. linear-lanceolate, 

 acute, 3-5-veined, glandular-hairy ; cor, -tube much exceeding 

 sep,, lobes rounded, spreading; styles nearly glabrous ; capsule 

 globular-ovoid, very slightly exceeding sep., apiculate, valves 



