Ni/mpJiaa.] vi. NYMPH/EACEiE (oliver). 53 



Etudes Nymph, in Ann. Sc. Nat. Ser. 3. xix. 41. N. scutifoUa, DC. Syst. 

 Veg. ii. 50. iV'. capensis, Tlmnb. Fl. Cap. 431. N. Peterninnn, Klotzsch in 

 Peters' Mossamb. 152. For further synonymy, see * Flora Indica,' i. 243. 



Upper Guinea. Senegambia, Perrottet ! Brunner f, etc. ; Niger, Barter ! 



Nile Iiand. Abyssinia, Billon, etc.; Kordofan, Kafschy ! Upper Nile and Egypt 

 {Schweinf. et Asch. E/ium.) ; Lake Karague and Upper Nile, Speke and Grant ! 



Lio^er Guinea. Angola, Br. Welwitsch! 



South Central, Chapman and Baines ! 



Mozamb. Distr. Lake Nyassa, Shire, and Zambesi, Br. Kirk ! 



The smoothness of the seeds of the small-flowered form, named N. Ileudelotii, by M. 

 Planchon, docs not appear to me to be a character of much importance. I find them nearly 

 as smooth in an Indian specimen of N. stellata. 



Occurs in rivers, lakes, and tanks in extratropical Africa, both north and south, and in 

 Madagascar, It is very commou in India, and extends to the Archipelago. 



Order VII. PAPAVERACE^ (by Prof. Oliver). 



Suborder I. Papavere.ic. 



Flowers hermaphrodite, regular, fugacious. Sepals 2 or 3, free, caducous. 

 Petals 4 or 6, hypogynous, free, imbricate and usually crumpled in aestiva- 

 tion. Stamens indefinite, free. Filaments filiform ; anthers innate, 2-celled, 

 dehiscing longitudinally. Pistil syncarpous ; ovary superior, 1-celled with 2 

 to many parietal placentas, sometimes projecting nearly to the centre of the 

 ovary; ovules indefinite, anatropous. Fruit a capsule, usually dehiscing by 

 valves or pores, many-seeded. Seeds albuminous with a minute embryo. — 

 Herbs or rarely shrubs with a milky or coloured juice. Leaves alternate or 

 radical, simple or pinnatifid, exstipulate. Flowers usually solitary and ter- 

 minal, red white or yellow. 



Natives chiefly of the north temperate zone. Several species are common weeds of cul- 

 tivation. 



Placentas (4-oo) usually projecting far into the cavity of the capsule. 



Capsule dehiscing by pores around the top 1. Pa paver. 



Placentas (4-6) nerviform, not projecting into the capsule. Capsule de- 

 hiscing by short valves from the top 2. Argemone. 



1. PAPAVER, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 51. 



Sepals 2 or 3. Petals 4 or 6. Stamens indefinite. Ovary globose ovoid 

 or clavate ; stigmas 4-go, radiating, sessile. Placentas projecting into the 

 cavity of the ovary, covered with the indefinite ovules. Capsule dehiscing 

 by minute pores under the margin of the discoid stigmatic surface. Seeds 

 indefinite. — Glabrous hispid or prickly, annual or perennial herbs. Pe- 

 duncles 1-flowercd. Flowers showy, red Avhite or yellow, very fugacious. 



The species occurring in Tropical Africa are not indigenous. One species, not known to 

 me from Tropical Africa, is native at the Cape (P. aculeatum^ Thunb.). 



Leaves green, rarely glaucous, pinnati- or bipinnati-partite. Capsule 



oblong or clavate 1. P. dulinm. 



Leaves glaucous, irregularly lobed or toothed, amplexicaul. Capsule 



globose 2. P. sommfcrn,,!. 



