XC. SCROPllULARIACE.i:, 299 



16. PEPLIDIUM, Delile. 



Small prostrate or creeping branched glabrous herbs. Leaves 

 opposite, obovate or spathulate, fleshy, entire. Flowers small, axillary, 

 1-3-nate, subsessile or shortly pedicellate. Calyx tubular, 5-ribbed, 

 obtusely 5-toothed, enlarged and ovoid-globose in fruit, the ribs almost 

 disappearing. Corolla-tube short; lobes 5, broad, subequal or one 

 broader. Stamens 2, included ; filaments curved ; anthers 1-celled. 

 Staminodes 0. Ovary 2-celled ; ovules many in each cell ; stigma large, 

 flat, tongue-shaped, curved. Capsule globose or broadly ovoid. Seeds 

 numerous, small. — Distrib. Species 2, an endemic Australian one and 

 the following. 



1. Peplidium humifusum, Delile, Dcscrip. de VEgypte (1812) 

 p. 148, t. 4. Stems prostrate, 4-8 in. long, slender, rooting at the 

 nodes, sometimes submerged or floating, flesuose, much-branched. 

 Leaves \-h by \-\ in., obovate, rounded at the apex, fleshy, minutely 

 punctate, base tapering into a short often obscure petiole which is 

 connected by a membrane with the petiole of the opposite leaf. Flowers 

 small, 1-3 in the axils of the leaves ; pedicels very short, sometimes 

 almost 0. Calyx J^ in. long, thinly membranous, 5-ribbed and reticu- 

 lately veined ; teeth 5, very short, obtuse. Corolla pinkish-white ; tube 

 included in the calyx ; lobes appearing above it. Capsules globose, J;- in. 

 in diam., almost enclosed in the enlarged calyx, membranous, bursting 

 irregularly. Seeds scarcely -^ in. long, oblong, usually truncate at both 

 ends. Fl. B. L v. 4, p. 287; Grab. Cat. p. 142; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 3, 

 p. 255; AYoodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (1898) p. 175. M'lcro- 

 carpcea cochlearifolla, Sm. in E,ees, Cyclop, v. 23, n. 2 ; Wight, in Hook. 

 Bot. Misc. V. 3 (1833) p. 95, Suppl. t. 29.— Flowers : Dec. 



Margin of tanks, Graham. Konka;^ : Dharamtar (Kolaba district), Woodrow ; 

 Marmagao, Woodrow. Sind : Bubak, Woodrow. — Distuib. India (W. Peninsula) ; 

 Ceylon, Kurdistan, Egypt, Australia. 



17. GLOSSOSTIGMA, Arn. 



Minute glabrous creeping herbs. Leaves opposite or fascicled, linear 

 or spathulate, entire. Flowers minute, axillary, solitary ; bracteoles 0. 

 Calyx campanulate, obtusely 3-4-lobed. Corolla shortly tubular ; lobes 

 5, subequal, spreading. Stamens 2 (in the only Indian species) or 4 ; 

 filaments filiform ; anther-cells diverging, their tips confluent. Ovary 

 perfectly or imperfectly 2-celled ; ovules many in each cell ; style 

 short ; stigma dilated, spathulate, recurved. Capsule included in the 

 calyx, loculicidal ; valves separating from a columnar placentiferous 

 axis. Seeds small, ellipsoid. — Disteib. Species 3, all Australian, one of 

 them widely dispersed through Tropical Asia and Africa. 



1. Glossostigma spathulatum, Wight 4' -^'''n. in Am. Pagill. in 

 Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. v. IS (1836) p. 355. A small tufted creeping and 

 rooting herb. Leaves ^-| by 4— ^ in., narrowly spathulate, running 

 down into a flat petiole of variable length (sometimes reaching 4 in. 

 long) which appears like the continuation of the leaf-blade. Flowers 

 axillary, solitary; pedicels slender, variable in length, ^-| in. long or 

 more. Calyx campanulate, -^ in. long ; lobes 3, shallow, broadly ovats- 



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