Plor a of the Malayan Peninsula. 171 



/ 



tlie apex; see(?s numerous, angled, black. Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. III. 



66; Trim. Flora Ceylon III. 316. 0. repens, Burm. Fl. Ind. t. 15, f . 2 ? 



Hedyotis trinervia, W. & A. Prod. 414; Dalz. & Gibs. Fl. Bomb. 115 



Bedd. Ic. PI. Ind. Or. t, 29. H. rotundifoUa, DC. Prod. IV. 420. E. 



serphyllifoUa, Poir. in DC. I.e. 421. H. orhiculata, Heyne, Wall. Cat. 



6191. 



Singapore: Bidley 8047. Pahang: Bidley 1492. Penang: Curtis 



1844. — DiSTRiB. British India ; Sumatra ; Java, ; Borneo ; Philippines ; 



Ceylon ; Tropical Africa. 



14. Ophiorrhiza, Linn. 



Decumbent creeping or erect herbs (rarely under-shrubs), with 

 slender terete branches. Leaves usually elliptic-lanceolate, often un- 

 equal; stipules caducous, very often small. Flowers rather small, 

 white, pink or greenish, secund in dichotomously branclied axillary or 

 terminal cymes ; bracts and bracteoles various or absent. Calyx short, 

 usually cylindric or campanulate, becoming obreniform or obcordate in 

 fruit, the lobes small and persistent. Corolla tubular or funnel-shaped, 

 the tube inside glabrous or hairy ; the lobes 5, short, valvate in bud, 

 often winged on the back, and with a fold in the sinus between neigh- 

 bouring lobes. Stamens 5, inserted on the tube ; anthers linear. Disk 

 large, fleshy, 2-lobed. Omr?/ 2-celled ; style filiform; stigmas 2, linear 

 or broad ; ovules numerous, inserted on placentas ascending from the 

 bases of the cells. Capsules coriaceous, compressed obreniform or ob- 

 cordate, dehiscing at the apex by 2 broad gaping valves; placentas 

 divaricating, many-seeded. Seeds minute, angled, the testa crustaceous ; 

 embryo clavate, in fleshy albumen.- -Distrib. Species about 50, ti'opical 

 Asiatic. 



Leaves quite glabrous : — 



Stipules lanceolate ; leaves elliptic or elliptic-oblong, 1 to 



1*5 in. broad ... ... ... ... 1. 0, discolor. 



Stipules reduced to rugulose bands ; leaves elliptic, 1*5 



to 4 in. broad ... ... ... ... 2. Ot erubescens. 



Leaves glabrous except their nerves : — 



Larger leaves 5 or 6 in. long and 1'5 to 2 in. broad, midrib 



nerves and reticulations puberulous ... ... 3, 0. fasciculata. 



Larger leaves 2 to 3 in. long and "65 to 1 in. broad ; nerves 



and midrib beneath with dense pale pubescence ... 4, 0. hispidula. 



Leaves glabrous on the upper surface, glabi-ous or puberu- 



lons and usually stained with red on the lower when dry, 



elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 2 to 5 in, long and 1 or 2 in, 



broad ... ... ... ... ... 5, 0. Mungos. 



Leaves slightly puberulous : — 



Stipules forming a broadly triangular very shallow cup, 



61 



