Trichodesma.'] BoVagifieCE. 20I 



A coarse annual herb, 1-2 ft. high, stems stout, with 

 ascending branches, hispid with long spreading hair ; 1. often 

 sub-opposite, i|-3 in., ovate-oval or oval, rounded or narrowed 

 below (often unequal-sided) and then suddenly contracted to 

 •decurrent base, obtuse or subacute at apex, entire but much 

 undulate at margin, with few scattered bristly hairs above, 

 minutely pilose beneath, with long hairs on the veins, rugose, 

 veins prominent beneath, petiole \-i in., winged ; fl. 

 •numerous, sessile, in 2 rows, cymes very long, simple, stalked, 

 with a stout bristly rachis ; sep. linear, acute, with {q.\v long 

 ibristly hairs ; cor.-tube much longer than sep. narrowed 

 upwards, limb spreading, lobes very shallow, rounded ; anth. 

 sessile on base of cor.-tube ; style very short ; fruit deeply 

 2-lobed, each lobe compressed, bluntly 4-ribbed, produced 

 above into a short blunt bidentate beak, and containing 2 

 angular beaked very hard i -seeded pyrenes which have each 

 a large empty cavity on the inner side. 



Low country ; very common, usually a roadside weed. Fl. April- 

 July; pale violet. 



Ttiroughout the Tropics. 



The leaves have a slightly fetid odour when bruised. The juice is 

 'Used as an external application to local inflammations. 



7. TRXCKODESnXA, Br. 



Annual herbs, hispid, 1. opp., sessile, passing into alt. 

 "bracts above, fl. large, cymes racemose with leafy bracts ; cal. 

 •deeply cut into 5 segm., enlarged in fruit ; cor. campanulate- 

 rotate, tube very short, lobes 5, shallow, contorted ; stam. 5> 

 inserted in cor.-tube, fil. nearly absent, anth. large, connivent 

 in a cone, exserted, pubescent or hairy, the ends much pro- 

 longed and spirally twisted ; ov. 4-celled, depressed ; fruit of 

 a large central 4-winged membranous axis to which are 

 adnate by their inner faces 4 ovoid i -seeded achenes. — Sp. 

 10; 5 in i^/. B. Ind. 



•Cal. hispid, produced at base into long spurs . . i. T. INDICUM. 

 Cal. silky, not produced at base . . . . 2. T ZEYLANICUM. 



I. T. indicum, Br. Prod. 496 (18 10). K.avil-tumpai, T. 



Fl. Zeyl. n. 71. Borrago indica, L. Sp. PI. 137. Moon Cat. 13. 

 Thw. Enum. 216. C. P. 1887. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 153. Wight, 111. t. 172. 



Stem 6-12 in., erect, much branched, very hispid, 1. 

 numerous, 1-2 in., oblong-linear, subcordate or hastate at 

 base, acute, hispid with harsh pustular hairs above, softly 



