LXXIV. rLUMBAGIXACE.5. V7 



1. STATICE, Linn. 



Herbs or small shrubs. Leaves alternate, often rosulate or fascicled, 

 entire (in the Indian species), spathiilate-oblong or obovate. Elovvers in 

 unilateral bracteate panicled spikes arranged along the branches of a 

 leafless peduncle or scape ; bracts subtending the spikes short, squanii- 

 forin, araplexicaul, coriaceous on the back and with membranous 

 margins ; bracteoles sheathing tlie flowers. Calvx tubular or infundi- 

 buliform ; tube ribbed ; limb scarious, plicate, often colored, spreading 

 in flower, with 5 nerves excurrent into teeth or awns, rarely deeply 

 5-lobed, or almost obsolete, or reduced to plumose awns, or to 5 recurved 

 mucros. Petals spathulate-oblong, entire or 2-partite, united at the 

 base into a ring with the stamens. Styles 5, distinct, at the angles of 

 the ovary ; stigmas subcapitate. Utricle included in the calyx, in- 

 dehiscent, or circumciss, or variously fissured. Seed filling the cell, 

 more or less albuminous. — Distkib. Cosmopolitan on sea-shores and in 

 salt-marshes ; species about 100. 



1. Statice Stocksii, Boiss. in DC. Prodr. v. 12 (1848) p. 664. A 

 low-branched plant 0-10 in. high, with a woody stem and leafy branches. 

 Leaves ^-| by ^-g in., flat, fleshy, glabrous or scarcely puberulou«, 

 spathulate-oblong, rounded at the apex, much tapering at the base into 

 an obscure petiole, which is dilated into an amplexicaul obliquely trun- 

 cate sheath at the base. Scapes somewhat angular, bearing a small 

 subsecund panicle ; bracts \ in. long, elliptic, herbaceous, reddish. Calyx 

 i in. long, narrowly infuiulibuliform, pointed at the base ; tube straight, 

 with red ciliate ribs ; liuib white, membranous, one of the ribs of the 

 tube prolonged to the apex of each lobe. Petals longer than the calyx, 

 spathulate-oblong, truncate or slightly emarginate at the apex, pink. 

 Stamens loug-exserted. El. B, I. v. 3, p. 480 : Wight, 111. v. 2, p. 225, 

 t. 178 ; Hook. Icon. PI. t. 837 ; Aitch. Pb. & Sind PL p. 84; Woodr. 

 in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (1898) p. 162.— Flowers : Dec-Mar. 



In the Bombay Presidency confined apparently to Kathiawai* and Sind. Gi'JARAt: 

 Verawal (Katbiavvar), Bhiva] SiNn : StocAs, 43t) !, CuiiJcc\, Dalzcll, 6'J ! ; Karachi, 

 Vicary ; Tata (lower Sind), Ililchic, 615 1 — Distuib. Beluciiistan. 



2. PLUMBAGO, Linn. 



Perennial herbs or undershrubs, sometimes scandent. Leaves alter- 

 nate, membranous, entire (in 1 species absent), amplexicaul and auricled 

 at the base, or with a petiole which is oft -n dilated and amplexicaul. 

 riovvers white, rose-colored, or blue, in terminal spikes ; bracts and 

 bracteoles shorter than the calyx, sometimes minute. Calyx tubular, 

 5-toothed, clothed with prominent stipitate glands. Corolla hypo- 

 crateriform ; tube long, slender ; limb spreading, with 5 equal or slightly 

 unequal entire lobes. Stamens hypogynous, free from the corolla ; 

 filaments dilated at the base ; anthers linear-oblong. Ovary attenuated 

 at the apex into a terminal filiform style which divides above into 5 

 longitudinally stigmatose branches. Capsule membranous, at length 

 circumciss near the base, the deciduous part often splitting into 5 valves 

 from the base to the apex. Albumen scanty. — Distbib. Warmer regions 

 of the world ; species 10. 



