154 XX. ELATINE.K (olivkk). iBerr/ia. 



styles. Seeds shining, terete, slightly curved. Lancretla siiffruticosa, Del. 

 pi. d'Egypte, Atlas, t. 25. 



Upper Guinea. Senegal, Heudelot ! 



North Central. Kouka, E. Vogel ! (a decumbent less woody form). 



Nile Land. By the Nile, lat. 16° N., Speke and Grant! Sennar, Kotschy ! 



Variety (?) with oval subacute leaves, narrowed to the base, ^-} in. long. 



Also an Egyptian shiub, extending to western India. 



Bergia abyssinica, Rich. Fl. Abyss, i. 49, is a species of Po/licJna. 



Order XXI. HYPERICINE^ (by Prof. Oliver. 



Flowers regular, hermaphrodite. Sepals 5, imbricate in aestivation. Pe- 

 tals as many, hypogynous, imbricate, often contorted. Stamens indefinite, 

 hvpogynous, usually more or less distinctly connate in 8 or 5 oligo- or poly- 

 androus phalanges or monadelphous or wholly free ; anthers 2-celled, dehis- 

 cing- longitudinally. Ovary 3-5-celled or subunilocnlar owing to non-cohe- 

 sion of the placentas (in Endodesm'ia monocarpellary, 1-celled) ; styles free or 

 more or less connate ; stigmas terminal, usually clavate or capitate. Ovules 

 indefinite, 2-seriate or few or solitary, erect, horizontal (or pendulous in En- 

 dodesmia). Fruit a capsule, dehiscing septicidally, rarely loculicidally, or 

 baccate and indehiscent. Seeds straight or curved, exarillate, exalbuminous. 

 Embryo with semi-cylindrical or convolute cotyledons, longer or shorter than 

 the radicle. — Shrubs or herbs, rarely trees. Leaves opposite, rarely alternate, 

 entire or glandular-toothed, often with opaque or translucent immersed 

 glands, exstipulate. Flowers usually cyniose, yellow or white. 



A considerable Order, widely dispersed in temperate and tropical countries. Three genera 

 are confined to Africa and the adjacent eastern islands. Endodesm'ia is monotypic and 

 very anomalous in the Order, but it is difficult to find a better place for it. 

 Fruit a capsule, dehiscing septicidally. Petals glabrous within . . 1. Htpericum. 

 Fruit drupaceous or baccate, indehiscent. 



Petals glabrous. Stamens connate in a tube, densely covered 



with anthers inside 2. Endodesmia. 



Petals hairy within. Stamens in 5 phalanges. 



Ovules solitary (or geminate ?) 3. Psorospermum. 



Ovules 2-4. Endocarpbony. (Flowers small, in broad, many- 

 flowered, corymbose cymes) 4. Haronga. 



Ovules about 5, ascending or indefinite, 2-seriate. Fruit 



baccate 5. Vismia. 



1. HYPERICUM, Linn. : Benth. et Hook, f Gen. PI. i. 166. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5, glabrous. Stamens free or shortly tri-polyadelphous, 

 with or without hypogynous glands. Ovary 1-celled, with 3-5 parietal pla- 

 centas or more or less completely 3-5-celled; styles free or united ; ovules 

 indefinite, rarely definite or few. Capsule dehiscing by the septa or placentas. 

 Seeds oblong cylindrical or elongate, straight or a little curved, unappendaged. 



Herbs shrubs or arborescent. Leaves usually entire and punctate. 



Flowers usually yellow, terminal, solitary or in corymbose or paniculate 

 cymes. 



