Lysimachia.'] PrhnulacetZ. 65 



F. zeylanica, L. Sp. PI. 151 (1753). Ela-n^tul, 5. 

 Herm. Mus. 10. Burm. Thes. 195. Fl. Zeyl. n. T}^. Moon Cat. 13. 

 Thw. Enum. 244. C. P. 2265. 



Fl. B. Ind. iii. 480. Wight, 111. t. 179. 



A perennial herb with long succulent roots, stems 2-5 ft, 

 spreading, branched, cylindrical, glabrous, striate; 1. i|-3| in., 

 sessile, oval or ovate-oval, much tapering towards base but 

 there dilated to form rounded amplexicaul stipule -like 

 auricles, acute at apex, entire, undulate, glabrous, thin, some- 

 what glaucous and finely scurfy beneath; fl. on very short 

 ped., in erect terminal spicate racemes, rachis and bracts 

 glandular; cal. about \ in., narrowly tubular, persistent, 

 segm. with membranous margins, covered with large stalked 

 spreading, globose, crimson glands ; cor.-tube fully i in., 

 slender, lobes nearly \ in., oval, acute; fil. as long as cor.- 

 tube, anth. exserted just beyond throat'; capsule oblong, 

 sharply pointed, pericarp thin below, thick and hard above. 



Low country, especially in the dry districts ; common. Fl. Dec- 

 March, &c.; white. 



Throughout the Tropics of the Old World. 



The roots are acrid and pungent, and are largely used in native 

 medicine, both internally and externally, 



P. rosea, L., is recorded in Herm. Mus. 51 under the name ' Rat-netul,' 

 by which it is still known. It is commonly grown in gardens as a 

 medicinal plant, being employed chiefly as an external stimulant. 



LXXVII.— PRIMULACE.^. 



Herbs, 1. alt. or opp., without stip., fl. regular, bisexual ; cal. 



free, persistent, segm. 5 ; cor. with a short tube, lobes 5, 



spreading, contorted in bud ; stam. 5, inserted on base of cor., 



fil. very short, anth. bluntly sagittate at base ; ov. superior, 



I -celled, with numerous ovules on a free central placenta, 



style simple, persistent, stigma undivided ; fruit a capsule, 



dehiscent by 5 valves ; seeds numerous, angular or flattened, 



rough, embryo in copious endosperm. 



An Order of temperate climates only represented here by two species 

 of Lysimachia in the hills. 



X.YSIIVIACIIZA, L. 



For characters, see Order. — Sp. 60; 14 in Fl. B. Ind. 



Stem erect ; 1. alt i. L. ramosa. 



Stem prostrate ; 1. opp 2. L. deltoidea. 



PART III. F 



