MaieriaJs for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 3 



irregularly breaking up, or circumscissile. Seeds many, small, smooth, 

 round on the bact and with a raphe on the inner face, ellipsoid or nearly 

 hemispheric ; placenta ultimately free central by the absorption of the 

 dissepiments covered by the seeds. Distrib. Species 30 ; in the tropi- 

 cal or warm temperate zones of the whole world. 



Flowers sessile, calyx-tnbe elongate-campanulate, capsule 



ellipsoid, seeds narrowly oblong, falcate ... ... 1. A. peploides. 



Flowers pedicelled, calyx-tabe depressed-hemispheric, cap- 

 sule depressed-globose, seeds sub-hemispheric ... ... 2. A.haccifera. 



1. Ammania pkploides, Spreng. Syst. I, 444. Flowers in short 

 axillary branches, sessile, solitary in the axils of reduced leaves ; bracts 

 in pairs, filiform, shorter than the tube of the calyx. Calyx-tube elon- 

 gate-campanulate, almost smooth, its mouth with 4 acutely triangular 

 teeth. Petals absent, or 4 and minute. Capsule 2-valved, ellipsoid ; 

 seeds narrowly oblong, sub-falcate, pink, angular, the hilum obscure. 

 Leaves opposite, their midribs prominent ; those of the flower-bearing 

 branches linear-oblong, bearing a flower in the axil of each ; those 

 of the main stem elliptic or obovate, narrowed to the base and almost 

 petiolate. Stems decumbent, often rooting, sometimes erect. Boiss. 

 Flor. Orient II, 742; Kurz in Journ. As. Soo. 1877, pt. II, 84; Clarke in 

 Hook. fil. Flor. Br. Ind. II, 566. A, nana, Roxb. Flor. Ind. 1, 427, (not 

 of Wallich). A. re-pens., Rottl., DC. Prodr. Ill, 80. Ameletia indica, 

 DC. in Mem. Soc. Hist. Nat, Genev. Ill, 11 (1825) 2, and 82, t. 3 f. A. ; 

 Prodr. Ill, 76 ; Wall. Cat. 2093 ; W. & A, Prodr. 303 ; Blume Mus. 

 Bot. II, 135, t. 47; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Flor. 96; Wight Ic. t. 257. 

 A. elongata, Blume Mus. Bot. II, 135. A. acutidens., Miq. Flor. Ind. Bat. 

 I, Pt. I, 617. A. pohjstachya. Wall. Cat, 2094, A. latifoUa, Wall. Cat. 

 2096, (partly PepUs indica,) Willd. Sp. PI. II, 244. 



South Andaman ; near the settlements of Port Blair and Port 

 Mowat; doubtless introduced as a weed of cultivation. Distrib. India, 

 China, Persia ; in rice and other fields. 



2. Ammannia baccifera, Linn. Sp. PI. 120. Flowers in very con- 

 densed axillary racemes or clusters shorter than the leaves ; bracts 

 filiform, shorter than the flower-pedicels. Calyx-tube widely campanu- 

 late, short, ridged ; the teeth 4, broadly triangular, acute. PetaU none 

 or minute. Capsule depressed-globose, imperfectly circumscissile above 

 the middle. Seeds sub-hemispheric, black, excavated on the plane face. 

 Leaves opposite, rather distant, linear-oblong, sub-acute or obtuse, 

 narrowed at the base, smaller upwards, 2-5 in. long. Stem erect, 

 glabrous, 8-24 in. long. Blume Mus, Bot. Lugd. Bat. II, 133 ; Dalz. & 

 Gibs. Bomb. Flor. 97 ; Kurz in Journ. As, Soc. 1877, Pt. II, 85 ; Clarke 

 in Hook, fil. Flor, Br, Ind. II, 569. A. vesicatoria, Roxb. Hort. Beng. 11 



347 



