CXXXIV. XTRIDACE.i;. 779 



V. 4, p. 207 ; Woodr. iu Journ. Bomb. K'at. v. 12 (1899) p. 524; Prain, 

 Bene:. PL p. 1080 ; Watr, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 6, part 4, p. 321.— 

 Mowers : Nov.-Jan. Veen. Dadtimari. 



KoNKAN : Stocks !, Dalsell !, Graham ; salt marshes in the 8. Konkan, Balzell ^• 

 Gibson. S. M. Country : Londa, Woodrow. — Distrib. India (Bengal, Birma, Assam, 

 W. Peninsula); Cejlon, Malay Islands. 



The natives of Bengal esteem the plant as a certain cure for ringworm. See Watt, 

 Diet. Econ. Prod. 1. c. 



Obdeb CXXXV. COMMELINACEiE. 



Herbs prostrate or erect, rarely climbing, very rarely shrubby. Leaves 

 costate, with sheathing bases ; nerves parallel. Plowers more or less 

 irregular, hermaphrodite or by abortion polygamous, often cymose ; cymes 

 scorpioid, straight or reduced to one flower, sometimes paniculate, often 

 enclosed in spathe-like bracts ; floral bracts usually small, opposite the 

 pedicels or obsolete, sometimes herbaceous and dichotomously imbricate. 

 Perianth inferior, 6-partite, 2-seriate ; outer segments 3, herbaceous, 

 often persistent ; iiuier segments 3, petaloid, free or united into a tube 

 below, spreading above, marcescent. Stamens 6, adnate to the base of 

 the perianth-segments, all perfect or 2 or more reduced to staminodes ; 

 filaments often bearded with jointed hairs ; anthers oblong or globose, 

 often dissimilar. Ovary 3- or 2-celled, free; ovules solitary or few, on 

 the inner angles of the cells, orthotropous. Fruit a loculicidal capsule 

 or indehiscent, with a thin fragile or a succulent pericarp. Seeds 

 angled ; testa smooth or rugose ; albumen floury ; embryo minute, 

 remote from the hilum. — Distrib. Genera 25; species about 300, 

 trojHcal and subtropical. 



Stamens 3 perfect, 1-3 staminodes. 



Cymes enclosed in spathaceous bracts 1. CoMxMElina. 



Cymes paniculate ; bracts not spathaceous 2. Aneilema. 



Stamens 6 perfect. 



Petals united below into a tube ; cymes scorpioid 3. Cyanotis. 



Petals free ; cymes secuud, in thyrsoid panicles 4. Floscopa. 



1. COMMELINA, Linn. 



Herbs usually slender and creeping below. Leaves with lax sheaths, 

 petiolate or not. Flowers in usually 2-fid scorpioid cymes emerging 

 singly from a terminal complicate, or funnel-shaped, or hooded spathe ; 

 flowers of the upper cyme-branch small, deciduous, of the lower fertile ; 

 fruiting pedicel and capsule retracted within the spathe. Sepals 3, 

 membranous, the 2 inner often connate below. Petals 3, longer than 

 the sepals, two large, clawed, the third smaller, subsessile. Stamens 3 

 perfect, with 2-3 imperfect ; anthers oblong, one usually longer than 

 the others. Ovary 3 (rarely 2) -celled, 2 of the cells 1-2-ovulate, the 

 third cell if present 1-ovulate or empty. Fruit a loculicidal capsule 

 hidden iu the spathe by the decurving of the pedicel after flowering, the 

 posticous cell sometimes indehiscent or obsolete, or the 2 anticous cells 

 empty, indehiscent, and connate as a ligulate body, from which the 

 posticous cell falls away. Seeds ellipsoid or angled ; testa reticulate, 

 pitted or rugose. — Distrib. Species about 90, tropical and subtropical. 



