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Pisonia.| NYCTAGINACEAE. 367 
limb soon deciduous. Stamens 1—4, connate below, slightly magn 
Style as long as stamens; stigma obtuse. Achene free inside the close 
and hardened angular tube of the perigone. Cotyledons ste round 
ea. the radicle external and inferior. — Herbs, sometimes 
with a woody base. aves opposite. Flowers glomerate on simple 
axillary peduncles or on their umbellate or paniculate rays. 
About 25 species, spread over most tropical countries. 
ae acute, gradually decreasing; inflorescence nee 
mens 2 d ‘ 1. B. diffusa. 
terres obtuse ; peduncles axillary ; stamens 2 2-4, z ; 2. B. tetrandra. 
1. B. diffusa, ZL. — DC. Prod. XUIT, Sect. I, p. 452. — A glabrous perennial, 
prostrate, branching from the base, 1—2 ft. long. Leaves ovate or ovate-lan- 
ceolate, acute, !/2—11/2/  3—8", on petioles of 2—5", the uppermost 
ones small linear - lanceolate. eaeatestagst a paniculate, a slender 
peduncle of 1—3/ in length bearing an u of 4—5 unequal rays, 4—8“ 
long, each of which carries a glomerule i ae sessile flow a supported 
y small ovate bractlets. Perigone pinkish, 1'/2“, glandular-pubescent, 
the tube as long as the limb or longer, obtusely e Stamens 2. 
Stigma flat-capitate. Ney Mant, clavate, 14/2“ long. — B. hirsuta, 
Hook. & ge in Bot. Bee 
Co on the lower rite ee a es. Like other species of this aes the _ 
possesses eos tie property in the root and forms part of the a medi 
It has a wide geographical range, m the Mascarene to the Hawaiia 
. B. tet: eee: Forst. Prod. no. 5. — DC. 1. c. p. 456. — A stouter 
oe than the preceding one, 2—4 ft. long. Leaves of age texture, 
broadly lita or oblong, obtuse, even suborbicular, 1—1'/2’ X §fa—1', 
sometimes subcordate at the base and emarginate at the apex. Peduncles 
in the axils of full-sized leaves, stiff, 1'/2—4‘, subumbellate, with 3—6 
rays of 1—6” in length, each bearing a cluster of stipitate flowers, rarely 
a peduncle carrying a single cluster. iyi 11/2“, with the limb longer 
than the tube, glandular. Stamens 2—3 (—4?). Style aoa stigma 
flat-capitate. Nutlet sharply way viscid. — Hook. <e 
Guillem. Zephyr. Taitens. p. 38. 
Ha aaa on laya fields of Kona, near Kealakeakua; collected also by the naturalists 
* banging Expedition, probably on Niihau. Forster gives the number of stamens 
—5. The species occurs also on the Society, Gambier, and Radack Islands. 
3. PISONIA, Plum. 
Flowers polygamous. Bractlets 1—3, minute, deciduous. a or 
perigone funnel-shaped, entire, 5-toothed or lobed. Stamens 6—20, 
equal, connate at the base, exserted in the male flowers, sane: in 
the —. anthers short ovoid, their cells almost discreet. Style often 
lateral, the stigma capitate or divided into few or many fringes. ruit 
ovoid- pin or cylindrical, surrounded by the coriaceous angular smooth 
