366 TEANSACTIOXS AXD PEOCEEDINGS OF THE [Sess. ux. 



PoETULACA PSAiDiOTEOPHA, Hance ; in Walp., Ann., 

 voL ii. p. 660 {fide X. E. Brown). Common, 4th Sep- 

 tember 1889. 



This species, which is also a native of Prata Island, in 

 the China Sea, is not recorded from Mauritius in Baker's 

 "Flora of Mauritius and the Seychelles." It was also 

 observed by me in He de la Passe, He Yakois, and He 

 Marianne, 



A diffuse much-branched glabrous plant, with pro- 

 cumbent stems 1—4 inches long. Leaves \—\ inch long, 

 obovate-oblong, sub-acute or obtuse, thick, fleshy, purplish- 

 green, shortly petioled ; stipules reduced to bristles. 

 Flowers terminal, solitary, enclosed by 5 ordinary leaves 

 and 2 minute undeveloped leaves at the base of the ovary. 

 Sepals 2, \ inch long, oblong-deltoid, caducous. Petals 

 h—Q,\ inch long, obovate, emarginate. Stamens 11-17; 

 style cylindrical, divided two-thirds down into 4—5 simple 

 papillose branches. Capsule ^^ inch broad, depresso- 

 globose. Seeds -^^ inch long, reniform, finely wrinkled, 

 glabrous, black. 



P. 'pmmmotroi^ha is specifically distinguished from P. 

 oleracea by having small obovate-oblong leaves, ^—\ inch 

 long, with stipules reduced to bristles, solitary terminal 

 flowers, and a depresso-globose capsule, y'g inch broad, 

 which is not beaked at the apex. In P. oleracea the 

 leaves are h—1 inch long, obovate, and exstipulate, the 

 flowers are in terminal clusters, and the capsule is g inch 

 long, oblong, obconic at the base, with a small conical beak 

 y'g inch long at the apex. 



Typical plants of P. oleracea are common in the four 

 islands in which P. 'psarnmotroiplia occurs ; and I did not 

 observe any intermediate forms between the two species. 



[MoMOEDiCA Chaeaxtia, Liun. Piare near the light- 

 house, 5th September 1889. This species, which is widely 

 spread through the tropics of both hemispheres, is recorded 

 as cultivated in vegetable gardens in Mauritius, in Bojer, 

 Hort. Maur., p. 148.] 



[Two plants of a gourd were observed by me, planted 

 near the lighthouse, on 5th September 1889. The species 

 was not determined.] 



