390 Nyctaginece. \Boerhaavia. 



I. BOERKAAVZA, L. 



Perennial herbs, 1. opp., often unequal, fl. small, in pani- 

 culate heads or umbels, jointed on ped.; perianth gamo- 

 phyllous, tube slender, limb funnel-shaped, 5-lobed ; stam. 

 2-5, exserted, anth. small, didymous; ov. superior, stalked, 

 I -celled, stigma peltate; fruit small, enclosed in glandular 

 per.-tube, seed solitary, cotyledons broad, folded round endo- 

 sperm. — Sp. 30; 6 in Fl. B. hid. 



L. rounded ; fl. nearly sessile . . . .1. B. DIFFUSA. 

 L. very acute ; fl. on long ped. . . . 2. B. repanda. 



1. B. diffusa, L. Sp. PI. 3 (1753). Fita-sudu-pala, S. Muk- 

 karaichchi, Karichcharanai, T. 



Burm. Thes. 56. Fl. Zeyl. n. 10. B. gluthiosa, Moon Cat. 5. Thw. 

 Enum. 245. C. P. 1099. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 709 {B. repeiis). Wight, Ic. t. 874 {B. procufubens). 



Root large, fusiform, stems prostrate or ascending, much 

 divaricately branched, slender, cylindrical, much thickened at 

 nodes, minutely pubescent, purplish; 1. at each node unequal, 

 the larger i-ii in., the smaller i-f in., broadly oval or sub- 

 rotundate, rounded or subcordate at base, rounded at apex, 

 entire, somewhat undulate, glabrous and green above, silvery- 

 white with a layer of very minute scales beneath, petiole 

 slender, as long as 1. ; fl. very small, shortly stalked or nearly 

 sessile, 4-10 in small umbels arranged in small, slender, long- 

 stalked, corymbose, axillary, and terminal panicles, viscous 

 with white sessile glands, bracts very small, lanceolate, acute; 

 per.-tube contracted above ov., glandular-viscid, lobes bifid, 

 each segm. obtuse ; stam. 2, slightly exserted ; fruit \ in., 

 membranous, closely invested with the persistent per.-tube, 

 which is oblong-ovoid, broadly and bluntly 5 -ribbed, very 

 glandular. 



Waste sandy ground in the low country ; a very common weed, 

 especially near the coast. Fl. all the year; bright purplish-pink. 

 Tropics of both worlds. 



Leaves have a hot taste ; the plant is much used in medicine as a 

 stomachic carminative. Thunberg (Travels, iv. 205) says it bore the 

 name oi Jan Lopes root at Colombo. When axillary the intl. is from axils 

 of the smaller 1. only. The very viscid per.-tube containing the fruit readily 

 adheres to other objects, and, being lightly articulated on ped., is readily 

 removed and carried away. Small insects are caught by the secretion. 



2. B. repanda, Willd. Sp. PL i. 22 (1797). 

 Trim, in Journ. l)0t. xxiii. 172. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 709 (not given for Ceylon). Wight, Ic. t. 1766. 



Stems 3-4 ft. or more, semi-scandent, with very long inter- 



