XCX. PEDALIACE^. 337 



Order XCV. PEDALIACE^. 



Herbs, rarely undershrubs. Leaves opposite or the upper alternate, 

 entire, toothed, incised or pedatifid ; stipules 0. Flowers irregular, 

 hermaphrodite, solitary (i-arely fascicled or racemose), usually axillary. 

 Calyx gamosepalous, usually deeply 4-5-lobed. Corolla tubular- 

 Aentrieose; limb 5-lobed, obscui'ely 2-lipped ; lobes imbricate. Stamens 4, 

 didyuamous (rarely 2). Disk hypogyuous, fleshy. Ovary 2 (rarely 

 1) -celled; ovules many or few, superposed; style filiform; stigma 

 shortly 2-lobed. Fruit hard, indehiscent, or a 2 (rarely 3-4) -valved 

 capsule. Seeds in the Indian species wingless ; albumen 0. — Distbib. 

 Genera 12 ; species about 55, in the warmer regions of both hemispheres, 

 abundant in Africa. 



Fruit spinous, indehiscent ; seeds 2-1 in each cell 1. Pedalium. 



Fruit capsular, 2-4-valved, spineless ; seeds many in each cell 2. Sesamum. 



1. PEDALIUM, Linn. 



A glabrous annual. Leaves opposite or alternate, petiolate, rather 

 broad, inciso-dentate. Flowers axillary, solitary, yellow, suberect, 

 shortly pedicellate ; pedicels 2-glandular at the base. Calyx small, 5- 

 partite. Coi'olla-tube slender below, enlarged above ; limb sub-bilabiate ; 

 lobes 6, round, spreading, subequal. Stamens 4, didynamous, included ; 

 anther-cells ovate, parallel, distinct, pendulous. Ovary 2-celled ; ovules 

 2 in each cell. Fruit hard, indehiscent, 2-celled ; upper portion p)ra- 

 niidal-ovoid, obtuse, obscurely 4-gonous, each angle armed with a conical 

 horizontal sharp spine. Seeds 2-1 in each cell, pendulous, oblong. — 

 DiSTRiB. India, Ceylon, Tropical Africa; species 1. 



1. Pedalium Murex, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1759) p. 1128. A 

 much-branched herb 0-15 in. high ; stems and branches often slightly 

 rough with scaly glands. Leaves opposite, pale glaucous-green, some- 

 what fleshy, 1-2 by |-1| in., broadly ovate-oblong, truncate or obtuse, 

 coarsely crenate-serrate or sublobate, glabrous above, the lower side 

 usually covered with minute scales, base acute ; petioles |-| in. long. 

 Flowers axillary, solitary ; pedicels ^ in. long. Calyx small, scarcely ^ 

 in. long, minutely scaly outside, divided rather more than l"'^^'^! down ; 

 lobes 5, linear-triangular, acute. Corolla 1 in. long, about | in. across 

 at the mouth, bright-yellow; tube | in. long, slender; lobes broad, 

 rounded. Filaments glandular- hairy at the base. Fruit i-^ in. long, 

 narrowed at the base, pyraniidal-ovoid above the spines, bluntly 4-angled, 

 with stout sharp conical horizontal spines from the angles. Fl, B. I. 

 V. 4, p. 386; Grab. Cat. p. 127; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 162; Wight, Icou. 

 t. 1615; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 3, p. 285; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. 

 V. 12 (1899) p. 354 ; AVatt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 6, part 1, p. 123.— 

 Flowers : Oct. Vebn. Mdlvi-goTclira ; Mothe-gokhru. 



Common on the sandy shores of Kathiawar and Gujarat. Konkan : Shrivardhan 

 near Jinjira (Kolaba districts), Woodrow; in compounds near the Marine lines 

 Bombay, uraham. S. M. Countky. E.idami, Bhival, Woodrow I Gujarat: Porbandar 

 (Kathiawar), Cookel — Distrib. As the genus. 



The herb is medicinally much valued by the natives. Agitated with water the fresh 

 leaves have the property of rendering the water mucilaginous without altering the 



