—— Flora of the Apper Gangetic Plain 
and of the adjacent 
Siwalik and Sub-Himalavan Tracts. 
LXXXIX.—NYCTAGINACEZ:, 
Herbs, shrubs or trees. Leaves usually opposite, entire, ex 
~~—stipulate. Flowers 2-(rarely 1-) sexual, regular, sometimes dimor- 
~ phous ; inflorescence various ; bracts often forming an involucre, 
free or connate. Perianth small, monophyllous, usually petaloid, 
the tube persistent, enveloping the fruit ; limb 3-5-lobed, persistent 
or deciduous, lobes plicate in bud. Stamens 1-30, hypogynous, 
sometimes unilateral ; filaments usually unequal, inflexed in bud ; 
anthers included or exserted, dorsifixed, didymous. Ovary. free, 
1-celled ; style filiform, involute in bud, stigma simple or multifid ; 
~ ovule solitary, basal, erect. Fruit membranous, indehiscent, en- 
~ closed in the hardened perianth-tube. Seed erect, testa adherent, 
. albumen soft or floury, embryo curved or straight and with folded 
. cotyledons, radicle inferior.—Species about 220, chiefly in Trop. 
~ America. 
BOERHAAVIA, Linn.; FI. Brit. Ind. iv, 708. 
Frect or diffuse herbs, often with divaricate branches. Leaves 
opposite, often unequally paired. Flowers small, arranged in 
panicles umbels or heads, pedicels jointed ; bracteoles minute, 
often deciduous, rarely whorled and involucrate. Perianth-tube 
B 
