NyctaginecE. 389 



FZ.ANTA.60, L. 



For characters, see Order. — Sp. 50; 10 in Fi B. Ind. 



P. major, L. Sp. PI. 112 (1753), van asiatica. Dene, in DC. Prod. 

 xiii. pt. I, 696. 



P. asiatica., L., Moon Celt. ii. Thvv. Enum. 245. C. P. 2246. 

 Fl. B. Ind. iv. 705. Wight, 111. t. 177 {P. asiatica). 



Perennial herb with an erect stout rootstock ; 1. alt. radical, 

 I-3I in., oval, tapering into and decurrent on petiole, obtuse 

 or subacute, entire or more or less coarsely dentate or lobed, 

 nearly glabrous or with scattered short hairs on both sides, 

 5-nerved, petiole usually much longer than 1., wide, sheathing 

 at base; fl. small, nearly sessile, in rather lax narrow spikes, 

 1-5 in. long, peduncles (scapes) erect, slender, usually much 

 exceeding 1., bracts shorter than cal. ; sep. ovate, subacute 

 with membranous margins, glabrous ; cor.-lobes lanceolate, 

 acute, reflexed ; capsule ovate - ovoid, obtuse, apiculate, 

 glabrous ; seeds somewhat angled, dull, black. 



Upper montane zone, by roadsides and in waste places ; common. 

 Occasionally imported to lower elevations. 



Also in the mountains of India, Burma, and Malaya, and in China, &c. 



The type a veiy common European weed. 



This appears to be a native, and I should be inclined to keep it 

 separate specifically from the European P. viajo?: But the Fl. B. Ind. 

 does not even consider it as a variety. It varies much in size and length 

 of spikes. 



P. lanceolata, L. (C. P. 2247), is very common about N. Eliya, &c., 

 but certainly introduced there with English grass-seed. It is included in 

 Moon Cat. (1824). 



CIL— NYCTAGINEyE. 



Herbs or shrubs, 1. opp. or sub-opp., entire, without stip., 

 fl. small, bisexual or dioecious, in cymes heads or umbels ; 

 perianth regular, tubular or funnel-shaped, corolloid, segm. 5, 

 plaited in bud ; stam. 2-10, exserted ; ov. superior, i-celled, 

 with a single erect ovule; fruit membranous, enclosed in per- 

 sistent per.-tube; seed erect, cotyledons large, folded round 

 the soft endosperm. 



Herbaceous ; fl. bisexual ; stam. 2-5 . . . .1. Boerhaavia. 

 Spiny climbing shrub ; fl. dioecious ; stam. 6-10 . . 2. PiSONIA. 



