58 OXALIDE^. 



evenpinnate, crowded or whorled at the top of the stem, 

 which may be branched ; stalks swollen at the base. 

 Flowers umbelled on terminal peduncles, small» yellow- 

 Stamens ten, all fertile ; five long, five short. (C/. 

 OXALIS.) Stigmas notched or two-fid. Capsule ovoid 

 opening as above. 



Species 20, tropical in Asia, America and Africa. 



Najned fro7n the Greek Bios, life^ and vnYio-a, leaf, because the leaves 

 are very sensitive. 



Biophytum intermedium Wight; KB. I. 1438, VI 7; 

 a small woody plant, an annual or with thick rootstock 

 and branching stems which end in flat whorls of pinnate 

 leaves and umbels of small flowers on slender peduncles. 



Branches slender clothed above with fine deflexed 

 hairs, and enlarged at the insertion of the leaves. 

 Leaves all terminal, 2 to 3 inches long, oblanceolate, the 

 terminal leaflet being shorter than the middle ones. 

 Leaflets twenty to thirty pairs, sensitive, thin, oblong- 

 oblique with midrib mucronate near the forward angle, 

 more or less hairy on both sides ; lateral veins numer- 

 ous and close set. Peduncles slender, very pubescent, 

 swollen at the top ; pedicels umbelled, Y^ to % inch, 

 pilose. Calyx campanulate, 3/16 inch; sepals free, 

 narrow, acute. Petals yellow, not spreading widely. 

 Stamens of two lengths, the outer five half the length 

 of the inner: anthers dorsifixed: filaments broadening 

 slightly towards the base. Styles as long again (three 

 times the length of the shorter stamens) clothed with 

 short erect hairs : stigmas capitate. Capsule ^ inch, 

 membranous, hairy, enclosed in the sepals and ending 

 in the equally long persistent styles. Seeds one or two 

 in a cell, oval, shining, with two or three spiral rows of 

 minute red warts, and down the whole length of the 

 ventral side a broad red scar. Fyson 332, 1880. Bourne 

 680, 1057, 1056.^ 



