144 XVII. CATlYOPHYLLACEiE (OLIVER). 



10. POLYCARPON, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 152. 



Sepals 5, free, membranous or scarious, with a strong herbaceous keel. 

 Petals 5, shorter than the sepals, entire oremarginate. Stamens 5-3. Ovary 

 1-celled, multiovulate ; style short, 3-fid. Capsule 3-valved. Embryo curved 

 or nearly straight. — Diffuse' forking herbs, with opposite leaves, usually in 

 pseudo-verticils of 4, with scarious stipules. Flowers small, in terminal cymes. 



A small widely-spread geuus in temperate and tropical countries. 

 Sepals strongly keeled, apiculate. Seeds and embryo distinctly 



curved \. P. tetraphyllum. 



Sepals keeled, obtuse or scarcely apiculate. Seeds cylindric-oblong ; 



embryo nearly straight 2. P. Loeflingii. 



1. P. tetraphyllum, Linn.f. ; DO. Prod. iii. 376. A glabrous, diffuse, 

 forking, erect or procumbent herb of 3 or 4 in. Leaves obovate obhmceo- 

 late or oval, obtuse or scarcely acute, narrowed into the petiole, ^\ in. long, 

 two pairs usually approximated so as to appear in whorls of 4. Flowers 

 very small, in dense or loose terminal cymes. Sepals strongly keeled and 

 boat-shaped, acutely apiculate. Seeds curved on one edge, with a distinctly 

 curved embryo. 



Nile Iiand. Abyssinia, Schimper ! DiHon. 



Occurs at the Cape, and generally in sandy or maritime situations, in the warmer parts of 

 Loth hemispheres (tropical Asia excepted, Bentham). 



2. P. Loeflingii, Benth. et Honk. Gen. PI. i. 153 {in note). Similar in 

 habit to the above, usually larger, 6-8 in., tomentose-pubescent or glabrous. 

 Leaves from oblanceolate to nearly linear, rather acute or obtuse, usually from 

 •f-f in. Flowers in paniculate cymose fascicles. Sepals with a strong 

 linear herbaceous more or less obtuse keel, rather unequal. Petals notched 

 or entire. Seeds shortly cylindrical, with the hilum lateral near one end, and 

 a nearly straight embryo. For synonymy, see Walpers, Rep. i. 263. — Arcersia 

 depressa^ Kl. in Peters' Mossamb. Bot. 140. 



Upper Guinea. Niger, Barter ! 



Nile Iiand. Nubia, Bromfield ! Kordofan and Sennar {Webb, Frag. Fl. Mthiop.). 



Lioiver Guinea. Angola, X>r. Welwitsch! Congo , Smith I 



Mozanxb. Distr. Zambesi, Dr. Peters. 



Occurs in northern Africa and India. 



Were it not that Nuttall has applied the specific name depressum to another species, it 

 ought, being as I suppose the oldest, to have been retained here. Polycarjicea memphiiica^ 

 Del. Fl. iEgypt. Atl. t. 24. f. 2, appears to be the same plant. 



Polycarpcea mozambica, Kunth et Bouche (lud. Sem. Berol. 1848), I do not know. It 

 may be a glabrous form of the above. 



11. POLYCARPJEA, Lam. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 154. 



Sepals 5, free, scarious, not keeled. Petals as many, entire or toothed, 

 shorter than the sepals. Stamens 5, hypogynous or slightly perigynous, free 

 or connate at the base. Ovary 1-celled, with few or many ovules; style short 

 (in tropical African sj)ecies) or elongate ; stigma 3-lobed or nearly entire and 

 capitate. Capsule 3-valved. Embryo usually curved.— Erect or diffuse, di- 

 chotomous herbs. Leaves usually linear or lanceolate, often fascicled, form- 



