374 AMARANTACEAE. [Charpentiera. 
3. AERVA, Forsk. 
Flowers hermaphrodite, tribracteate. Sepals 5, erect, woolly. Stamens 5, 
connate at the base. Staminodes triangular or subulate. Anthers 2-celled. 
vary 1-ovyulate. Style short, divided into 2 stigmatic branches. Fruit 
an indehiscent utricle, enclosed by the perianth. Seed-coat crustaceous. 
— Herbs or unde — generally white-tomentose. Leayes alternate, 
rarely opposite. Flowers minute, in terminal and axillary spikes. 
Tropics of the Old World, ee 20 species. 
1, A. sericea, Mog. in DC. Prod. XLII, Sect. I, p. 304. — «Shrubby, pale 
puberulous or whitish. Leaves opposite, ovate or rhomboidal, 1—2' x 
6—9", including a petiole of 2—4“, the uppermost lanceolate- acute, silky- 
tomentose, green above, white ies seman thin, with prominent nerves. 
Spikes solitary or aa ovate, 3—4” long and 2“ broad, obtuse, villous, 
on peduncles of 3— Flowers 2/4", saidion® white, not shining. Bracts 
exceeding the Ga cnbodal, keeled, villous, the lower ovate, acuminate, 
mucronate, the lateral ones concave, long acuminate. Sepals 1- nerved, 
acute, the two outer ovate, villous, the three inner ones narrower. Anthers 
ovate - oblong, » 
Collected only by Gaudichaud in the Voyage of the Bonite (no. 45). 
4. CHARPENTIERA, Gaud. 
teste hermaphrodite, tribracteate. Sepals 5, erect, glabrous, coria- 
Stamens 5, united at the base into a short cup, alternating with 
niet and rounded entire staminodes. Anthers 2-celled, oblong, sagittate. 
Ovary 1-ovulate. Style very short or none; stigmatic branches 2, short 
and thick, subulate, diverging, papillose on the inner side, Fruit an ovoid 
indehiscent utricle, enclosed by the perianth. Seed vertical, lenticular, 
notched, — with a black shining crustaceous testa. Embryo o bemi- 
cyclical. — ‘Trees with alternate entire e penni- -nerved leaves. ae 
minute, setae sessile in axillary: paniculately arranged loose filiform 
spikes, all bracts persisting on the rhachis. 
A Hawaiian genus, nearly related to the American Cham 
Leaves broad at the base; sepals somewhat acute; stamens as S whe 
as the sepals . €. ovata. 
Leaves contracted at the pase; sepals obtuse; ‘stamens half | as long 
as sepals _ C. obovata. 
1. C, ovata, Gaud. Bot. Voy. Sm p. 444, tab. 48, — A soft- wooded 
tree, 15—20 ft. high, with spreading branches, glabrous. Leaves ovate, 
4—6' & 3—4', on petioles of 2——31/2', somewhat acute, rounded or truncate 
at the base, but slightly decurrent into the petiole, fleshy when fresh, with 
thin margins, glabrous, dark, the veins straight parallel. Panicles com 
pound, 10—12/ long, on peduncles of about 4‘, Flowers 1”, thin pale sete 
rather pale. Bracts 1/s—1/2 the — of the flower, ovate. Sepals 
