Enicosthma.] GEXTIANACKJE. 73 



2. ENICOSTEMA, Blarao ; Fl. Brit. Ind. It, 100. 



Knot or decumbent branching herbf. Leave opposite, sessile. 

 Floxcers small, in sessile axillary clusters. Calyx-tube campanulate ; 

 lobes 5, lanceolate Corolla t tubular below, narrowly funnel-shaped 

 above ; lobes 5, small. Stamens 5, attached to the corolla-tube ; 

 filaments linear, with a small double-hooded scale on the inner side 

 of each at the base ; anthers erect, not twisted, acute. Ovary 1- 

 celled, placentas slightly intruded ; style short, stigma capitate, 

 ovules many. Capsule ellipsoid. Seeds many, subglobose, foveolate.— • 

 Species 4, two in Trop. Africa one of which occurs also in India, one 

 in Madagascar and one in Trop. America. 



E.littorale, Blums Bijdr. 848 ; F. B. I. iv, 101 ; Watt. E. D.; Cooke Fl. 

 Bomb, ii, 189. Gentiana verticillata, Linn. ; Roicb. Fl. Ind. ii, 11 Slevotia 

 vorticillata, D. Don in Trans. Linn. Soc. wvii, 532.— V em. Chota chiretta. 



A glabrous perennial herb, 4-20 in. high, branching from the base. Sterna 

 erect or procumbent, usually 4-angled. Leaves sessile, decussate, 

 1»2£ in. long, varying in shape from linear to elliptic-lanceolate, 

 3-nerved, the two marginal ones often obscure. Flotuers in whorled 

 clusters, white. Calyx & in. long; lobes as long as the tube, obtuse, 

 with narrow membranous margins. Corolla tubular, £•£ in long ; lobes 

 y^in., elliptic, acute. Anthers included. Stigma large, 2-lobed. 

 Capsule £-£ in. long, narrowed towards the base. 



Common in wet places. Flowers during the rainy season. Distrib* 

 Throughout the greater part of India especially near the sea, but 

 apparently not in Bengal. It occurs in Ceylon and extends to Java, 

 Trop. and S. Africa and the W. Indies. The plant is used as a bitter 

 tonic, especially in W. and S. India. 



3. ERYTHRJEA, Reneahn ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 101. 



Herbs, annual or perennial, ereot, bvanohing. Leaves opposite, 

 sessile or ainplexi-aul. Flowers (in the Indian species) pink or 

 white, arranged in dichotomous often corymbose cymes. Calfx 

 tubular, 5 or 4-fid., lobes keeled. Corolla-tube long or short ; lobes 

 6 or 4, spreading. Stamens 5 or 4, inserted near the summit of 

 the corolla-tube ; filaments shoit, linear ; anthers narrowly oblong, 

 usually exs- rted, often spirally twisted. Ovary 1-otlled placentas 

 much intruded, style linear, stigma 2-lobed. Capsule oblong, about 

 as long as the calyx, nearly 2«3olled, many seeded. Seeds very 

 small, foveolate.— Species about 30, chiefly in temperate and sub- 



