Bergia.'] XX. ELAUNiii: (oliver). 153 



verticilhisters, subsessile or pedicels equalling or slightly exceeding the c<ilyx. 

 Sepals lanceolate to linear, very acute, pilose or hispid and ciliate, about (Mpial 

 to the thin oblanceolate petals. Stamens 5, occasionally varying with fewer 

 or more. Ovary globose ; styles very short. — B. peploides and B. pentandra, 

 Guill. et Perr. Fl. Seneg. i. 42, 44. B. erecLa, Guill. et Perr. I.e. (an erect 

 variety, with narrow linear-lanceolate sepals and petals). 



Upper Guinea. Senegambia, Perrottet ! 



Nile Ijand. Nubia, Kotschy ! Kordofan {Schweinf. et Asch. Enitm.), also var. 

 erecta. 



An Indian weed, extending also to Australia. 



3. B. polyantha, Soiid. in LinncBa, xxiii. 17. A diffuse, mucii-branched, 

 glabrous annual herb of 3-8 in. ; the lateral branches often procumbent. 

 Leaves slightly fleshy, oval-oblong, acute, the lower narrowed to tiie 

 base, denticulate at least towards the apex, usually -^-l in. long, -^-^ in. 

 broad. Stipules lanceolate. Flowers solitary or in pairs, on slender pedicels 

 exceeding or equalling the subtending leaf, about \ in. across when ex- 

 panded. Sepals lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, very acute, nearly equalling 

 or sometimes exceeding the obtuse rose-coloured petals. Stamens 10. 



Iio^ver Gnixxea. Mossamedes and Benguella, Angola, Dr. Welwitsch ! 

 Also at the Cape. 



Scarcely, I think, specifically distinct from B. anagalloides^ E. Meyer, and nearly allied 

 to two Australian species. 



4. B. decumbens, Blanch.; Harv. ei Sand. Fl. Cap. i. 116. A pro- 

 cumbent or ascending herb, branching from a woody stock ; branches tetrago- 

 nous towards the extremities, puberulous. Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, 

 acute, narrowed to the base, sharply serrate, glabrous or with few minute 

 setae, 1 in. long more or less, yV'^i ^^^- broad. Stipules subulate or linear, 

 denticulate. Flowers in few- or many-flowered verticillasters, much shorter 

 than the leaves ; pedicels exceeding or equalling the flowers. Sepals oblong- 

 lanceolate membranous-margined, with a firm, subulate, at length spreading 

 acumen, equalling the oblanceolate petals. Stamens twice as many as petals, 

 nearly equal ; filaments alternately dilated below. Ovary 5-sulcate, narrowed 

 above into the styles. — Harv. Thes. Cap. t. 24. 



Mozaxub. Distr. Zambesi, Dr. Kirk ! 

 Also south of the tropic. 



5. B. suffruticosa, Fenzlin Denkschr. But. Gesell. iii. 183. Shrubby 

 decumbent or spreading, usually with very numerous opposite branchlcts. at 

 first shortly hispid; the bark at length somewhat glabrate and deciduous in 

 papery cinnamon- or rust-coloured flakes. Leaves rather thick, varying from 

 broadly elliptical, in the more rigid small-leaved forms, to oval, obtuse or 

 subacute, crenate-serrulate, the margin often revolute, shortly hispid on l)otli 

 sides and often glandular, often fascicled in the axils, sessile or narrowed to 

 the base and subpetiolate, 1-4 lines long. Flowers solitary or in fascicles 

 of 2 to 6 or 8 ; pedicels shorter than or but slightly exceeding the ovate, 

 thickened above and pointed or apiculate sepals. Petals obovate-oblonj^. 

 Stamens 10, alternately shorter or nearly equal ; filaments opposed to the 

 sepals slightly dilated below. Ovary ovoid, 5-sulcatc, narrowed into the 



