I08 Urticacecu. [Lecanthus. 



3. p. trinervia, Wight, Ic. vi. 9 (18153). 



Wedd. Monogr. Urt. 224. Thw. Enum. 259. Wedd. in DC. 1. c. 131. 

 •C. P. 2093. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 557. Wight, Ic. t. 1973. 



Stem 4-5 ft., robust, erect, succulent, internodes short, 

 tumid, nodes constricted ; 1. 3-6 in., from broadly oval to 

 ■oblong-lanceolate, acuminate or caudate, serrate, base acute or 

 rounded, veins strong with parallel cross-venules ; petioles of 

 opp. 1. unequal, of longer up to 3 in. ; stip. short, triangular, 

 caducous ; fl. monoecious ; male cymes large, subcorymbosely 

 branched, ped. long or short, fl. scattered or clustered ; fern, 

 cymes usually 2-nate, shorter, slender ; male sep. 4, equal, 

 ovate, acuminate, shortly beaked dorsally below the tip, fem. 

 sep. 3, dorsal larger than the others ; achene ovoid, margins 

 thickened, faces granular. 



Moist region up to 5000 ft.; common in damp shady places. Fl. 

 April-Sept; green. 



Also in S. India and (?) Java. 



P. muscosa^ Lindl. {P. micropliylla, Liebm.), a small S. American 

 species, is now a very common weed in the low country, and completely 

 naturalised. It was introduced previously to i860, but I do not know 

 ihow much earlier. It is called the 'Gunpowder Plant.' 



19. ZiECANTKUS, Wedd. 

 An annual herb ; 1. opp., 3-veined and penniveined, in 

 unequal pairs ; stip. scarious ; fl. mono- or dioecious, crowded 

 on solitary axillary peduncled bracteate peltate fleshy recepts. ; 

 male fl. : — sep. 4-5, subequal, dorsally horned below the tip; 

 stam. 4-5, fil. inflexed in bud ; pistillode conic ; fem. fl. : — 

 sep. 3, very minute, unequal ; ov. straight, stigma sessile, 

 penicillate, ovule erect ; achene ovoid, compressed, endosperm 

 fleshy, cotyledons ovate. — Monotypic. 



Xi. Wig-htii, Wedd. in Ann. Sc. Nat. scr. 4, i. 187 (1854). 

 L. pcdunaiI(iris,V^tdL^. in DC. Prod. xvi. 164. C. P. 3870. 

 Fl. B. Ind. V. 559. Wight, Ic. t. 19S5 {Elatostema ovatum). Wedd. 

 Monogr. Urt. t. 9, f. C. 



An erect glabrous herb ; stem 6-18 in., stout or slender, 

 simple or branched from a decumbent base; 1. 2-3 in. long, 

 •obliquely ovate, obtuse, acute or acuminate, coarsely toothed 

 or serrate from below the middle upwards, membranous, 

 glabrous or sparsely hairy ; petiole of one leaf up to 2 in., of 

 the opposite much shorter ; stip. entire or toothed ; recept. 

 long- or short-pcduncled, flat or turbinate, \-% in. diam., 

 green ; fl. pedicclled, many of fem. imperfect ; achene minute, 

 smooth. 



