4 1 o Polygonacecp. 



axillary spikes, with 2 large fleshy bractlets adnata to peri- 

 anth, perianth fleshy (becoming berry-like with fruit), segm. 5, 

 short, incurved; stam. 5, included, anth. small, versatile; 

 styles 3, erect, stigmas clavate; utricle completely enclosed 

 in enlarged fleshy perianth ; seed nearly globose, embryo 

 coiled in a flat spiral, endosperm scanty. — Monotypic. 



B. rubra, L. Sp. PI. 272 (1753). Nivitl, S. Pasalai, T. 



Herm. Mus. 68. Fl. Zeyl. n. 119. Moon Cat. 23. Thw. Enum. 246. 

 Fl. B. Ind. V. 20. Wight, Ic. t. 896 i^B. alba). 



Perennial herb, stems very long, slender, twining succulent, 

 glabrous, much branched ; 1. 2-4^ in., broadly ovate, often 

 subcordate at base, subacute, apiculate, entire, thick, brittle, 

 glabrous and shining, petiole short, very thick ; fl. sessile, {^^\ 

 in short lax pedunculate spikes, basal bracts small, apiculate, 

 adnate, bractlets rather longer than perianth, oblong, obtuse; 

 per.-segm. broadly oval, obtuse. 



Forests and shady places in the dry region ; rather rare. Puttalam ; 

 Tissa-maha-rama, S. Prov. Fl. December, &c.; pinkish-white. 



Throughout Tropical Asia and Africa, wild or cultivated. 



This appears to be a native in the dry region ; it is the green variety 

 {^B. alba, L.). Red and purple and white-stemmed forms are much 

 grown in gardens as pot-herbs, and are often called ' spinach ' by the 

 English. 



Rivina hiimilis, L. {R. Icevis, L.), is a common garden weed, and is 

 found quite naturalised in waste ground in the low country. It is native 

 to Trop. America, and R. orienta/is, Moq., is the same. It is C. P. 1899 

 and Moon Cat. 12, and is used as a febrifuge medicine in the N. Prov. 



Mohlana nemoralis, Mart., a native of Trop. America and Africa, has 

 occurred apparently quite wild at Lagalla and Uma-oya. 



Phytolacca octafidra, Moq., of Trop. America, is said by Thwaites 

 (Enum. 250) to occur occasionally as an escape from gardens. This and 

 the two last-mentioned belong to the Order Pliytolaccacece. 



CV.— POLYGON ACE^. 



Annual or perennial herbs (occasionall)' semi-shrubby), 

 I. alt., stip. combined into a tubular membranous sheath 

 (ocrea), fl. small, regular, bisexual (very rarely unisexual), 

 usually jointed on ped., in small bracteate clusters in spike- 

 like or capitulate infl. ; perianth deeply 4- or 5-lobed, lobes 

 imbricate; stam. 4, 5, or 8 inserted on perianth (perigynous) ; 



