*, 
- 
126 URTICACEZ. [ GIRARDINIA. 
should more correctly be referred to G. palmata, Gaud. (G. heteroplylla, 
Var. palmata, F. B. I. 1.c.) as being the more prevalent variety found 
on the Nilgiris. 
6. PILEA, Lindl. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. V, 551. 
: Herbs, rarely undershrubs. Leaves opposite, in equal or unequal 
pairs, entire or serrate, 3-nerved at the base, rarely penni- 
nerved ; stipules connate, intrapeticlar. Flowers minute, mone- 
cious or dicecious, in axillary long or short peduncled dichotomously 
branching cymes, bracts small or none. /Perianth simple. MALE 
flowers. Sepals 2-4, free or connate in a cup, often gibbous or 
horned on the back. Stamens 2-4. Pistillode conical or oblong. 
Fem. flowers.: Sepals 3, rarely 4, very small and unequal, dorsal 
longest, sometimes gibbous cr hooded. Staminodes minute and 
seale-like or none. Ovary straight; stigma sessile, pennicillate, 
ovule erect. Fruit an ovoid or cblong compressed membranous 
or crustaceous achene, sometimes clasped at the base by the per- 
sistent sepals. Seed erect, testa thin, albumen very scanty, cotyle- 
dons broad.—Species about 100, tropical or sub-tropical, none 
found in Australia. 
P peploides, Hook. and Arn. Bot. Beech. Voy. 96; F. B. J. 
v, 554. 
A very small tufted glabrous herb, branching from the base. Stems 
or branches 3-5 in. long, succulent, flaccid. Leaves 3- in. long 
and broad, orbicular-ovate, rounded at the apex, entire or crenate 
above the middie; base cuneate, 3-nerved; petiole as long as the 
blade; stipules obscure. Flowers minute, indense sessile andro- 
gynous, globose heads } in. in diam. Schenes very minute sub-globose, 
smooth. 
In the Kheri district of N. Oudh, and in the Gorakhpur district (Duthie’s 
collectors). Distris.: From the Punjab Himalaya to the Sikkim 
Terai also in Cachar and Burma, extending to China, Japan, Java 
and to the Sandwich and Galapagos Islands. 
P. Muscosa, Lindl. A minute creeping herb with entire penninerved 
leaves is often found as a garden weed in damp places and is known 
as the Gunpowder Plant owing to the profuse discharge of pollen 
from the anthers when the plant is shaken. It has been introduced 
from S. America. 
