Hydrolea.] HydrophyllacecB. i o i 



LXXXVIIL— HYDROPHYLLACE^. 



Annual herb, 1. alt, without stip., fl. in racemes ; cal.-segm. 

 (sep.) 5; cor. rotate, lobes 5, deep, imbricate; stam. 5, inserted 

 in cor.-tube; ov. 2-celled with very numerous ovules in each 

 cell, styles 2 ; fruit a capsule, dehiscing septicidally by 2 valves, 

 seeds numerous, minute, with endosperm. 



A rather small Family, mostly American. The following is the only 

 Indian genus. 



KVDROIiEA, L. 



For characters, see Order. — Sp. 14; i in Fl. B. Lid. 



H. zeylanica, Vahl, Symb. Bot. ii. 46 (1791). Diya-kirilla, S, 



Herm. Mus. 36. Fl. Zeyl. n. 117. Nama zeylanka, L. Sp. PI. 226. 

 Moon Cat. 21. Thw. Enum. 209. C. P. 1883, 1884. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 133. Fl. Zeyl. t. 2. Wight, 111. t. 167, Ic. t. 6or. 



Annual herb, stem 6-18 in., usually decumbent and rooting 

 at the nodes below, glabrous, rather succulent, with short 

 branches; 1. i-2\ in., linear-oblong, shortly petioled, acute at 

 both ends, glabrous but slightly ciliate on the margin ; fl. very 

 numerous, ped. rather long, curved, glabrous or with numerous 

 short glandular hairs, cymes racemose, bracts leafy; sep. about 

 \ in., oblong-linear, glabrous or with copious glandular hairs, 

 cor. nearly | in. diam., lobes ovate, acute ; stam. exserted, iil. 

 dilated at base; styles long, spreading; capsule ovoid-oblong, 

 shorter than persistent enclosing sep. 



Wet places, margins of tanks, &c., in the low country, especially in 

 the dry region ; rather common. Fl. March and Sept.; bright light blue. 



Throughout the Tropics of both hemispheres. 



The perfectly glabrous type is confined to the moist region, the 

 commoner plant of the dry country is smaller, more prostrate, and more 

 branched, and has the cal. and inflorescence viscous-hairy. 



Linn^us's genus Ntmia is older than his Hydroleaj but the present 

 species is not congeneric with the other one, N. Jamaicensts, L., and was 

 properly transferred by Vahl to Hydrolea, of which H. spinosa was 

 Linnsus's only species. 



