166 XXXI. GERAXIACE,!:. 



2. Monsonia heliotropioides, Boiss. Fl. Orient, v. 1 (1867) 

 p. 897. A small hoary annual, with a woody vootstoek. Leaves chiefly 

 radical, g-l by g-| iu., variable in shape, ovate, obtuse or rhomboid, 

 softly villous with long white hairs on both surfaces, sharply denticulate ; 

 base cordate, rounded or cuneate ; petioles up to 2-j iu. long, clothed 

 with long white hairs ; stipules subulate, hairy. Flowers in umbels on 

 the summit of a very long scape \\hich sometimes reaches 8 in. long, 

 slender, distantly clothed witli long, white hairs ; bracts beneath the 

 pedicels lanceolate ; pedicels 5-8, sleuder, slightly hairy. Sepals jj in. 

 long, elliptic-oblong, abruptly mucronate, becoming enlarged and obovate 

 in fruit, cauescent outside, the margins membranous. Petals obovate, 

 shorter than the sepals. Filaments slightly ciliate. Carpels stipitate, 

 densely hairy at the base, obliquely truncate, with 2-3 grooves or 

 wrinkles beneath the apex ; beak up to 3| in. long, slightly downy 

 outside, clothed with silky hairs within. Fl. B. I. v. 1, p. 428 ; 

 Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 11 (1897) p. 266.— Flowers : Aug. 



Eare. Sind : Tbano-Bula-Khan road, 51 miles from Karachi, Woodrow. — Distrib. 

 Westwards to Egypt. 



2. ERODIUM, L'Hcrit. 



Herbs, rarely undershrubs ; branches swollen or jointed at (he nodes. 

 Leaves usually pinnately divided. Flowers regular or irregular; peduncles 

 axillary, umbelled at the apex, rarely 1-flowered. Sepals 5, imbricate. 

 Petals 5, hypogynous, imbricate, with alternating glands. Stamens 5, 

 alternating with 5 staminodes. Ovary 5-lobed, 5-celled, beaked, the 

 beak running into a style with 5 longitudinally stigmatose branches ; 

 ovules 2 in each cell, more or less superposed. Lobes of the capsule 

 1-seeded, separating septifragally from the axis, the beaks rolling up 

 elastically from the base to the apex, hairy on the inner surface, eacla 

 with usually 2 pits at the top below the beak. Seeds exalbumiuous ; 

 embryo incumbent on the induplicate or flexuous radicle. — Distimb. 

 Chieliy in tempei'ate regions in the N. hemispliere of the Old AVorld ; 

 species about 50. 



1. Erodium cicutarium, VHerlt. e^v Ail. llort. Kew. ed. 1, v. 2 

 (1789) p. 41-1. An annual herb ; branches short or long, sometimes 

 reaching 2 ft. and upwards, more or less clothed with white hairs. 

 Leaves oblong, piiniatisect ; segments 7-11 pairs, sessile, not decurrent, 

 ovate-oblong or obovate, deeply i)iciso-dentate ; stipules scarious, ovate- 

 lanceolate, acute. Peduncles many-ilowered ; jjcdicels hoary ; bracts 

 small, scarious, ovate. Sepals oblong-lanceolate, shortly nuicronate, 

 hairy outside. Petals obovate, unequal, as long as, or longer than the 

 sepals, purple, often spotted. Filaments glabrous, without teeth. 

 Beak 5-6 times as long as the car])els, pits with a concentric fold 

 beneath. Seeds very smooth ; cotyledons ;3-lobed. Fl. B. I. v. 1, 

 p. 434; Boiss. Fl. Orient, v. 1, p. 890; Woodr. in Jom-n. Bomb. Nat. 

 v. 11 (1897) p. 26(3.— Flowers : Feb.-Dec. 



A very rare plant, occurring in Sind. It is abundant near (^uetta, wbicli is not, 

 however, within the limits of the Bombay Presidency. 



Sind: Tata di.stricl, JFoodrow !—Di.striu. Tbruugliout Enropo and toinperatc 

 K. Asia. 



