CRASSULACE.E. 143 



inches : bract about half way, like the leaves or more often 

 smaller. Sepals Ye inch. Petals obovate-oblong, the 

 narrow basal part entire or nearly so. Staminodes ob- 

 scurely three-lobed or club-shaped, much shorter than 

 the stamens. Capsule obcordate, three-lobed ; seeds 

 small, t. 103-A. 5= petal and staminode [E.T.B.]; 

 B - staminode [P.F.F.]. Wight 111. t. 21. 



Pulneys : in swamps and damp places near sholas, common. 

 Nilgiris : ? Avalanche Wight, 



Gen. Dist. Pulneys, Mysore, Bababoodons. Fyson 1 839, 2165. 

 Bourne 581, 1000, 2600. 



This is undoubtedly the plant figured by Wight in his 111. t. 21 under 

 this name, but the staminodes are not as described in W. & A. Prod. i. p. 35. 

 Wight's specimen from Avalanche has indeed staminodes rather more 

 deeply lobed than his figure. 



CRASSULACE/E. 



A cosmopolitan family, closely allied to the last, and 

 differing from it chiefly in the carpels being of the same 

 number as the petals or sepals, so that the flowers are 

 perfectly symmetrical. The fruit too consists of folli- 

 cles (the carpels being separate), which open down the 

 inner faces and have usually many seeds. In some 

 genera the petals are united into a tube, so that the 

 distinction of polypetally and sympetally, so important 

 in other cases, here breaks down. A very large number 

 of the family have smooth succulent leaves, and are able 

 to grow in places where water is at times scarce; thus 

 the Stone-crop or Wall-pepper, Ger. Mauerpfeffer, Fr. 

 Orpin ; Pennywort and House leek, Ger, Hauslauch, 

 Fr. Joubarbe ; and the common BRYOPHYLLUM of the 

 Indian plains, whose leaves will remain alive for weeks 

 after being detached from the plant, and throw out 

 shoots and roots. 



Species 400, scattered all over the world, except Polynesia, 

 yare in Australia and South and North America. 



