Ammannia.] lviii. lythrace^e (hiern). 479 



wards base, sessile, not auricled, 1-veined, subscabrous, opposite (at 

 ends of branches subopposite), J— 2 in. long by ^-^ in. wide. Upper 

 internodes about a quarter the length of the leaves. Flowers in dense 

 axillary clusters, about 6 in each axil, with small linear or lanceolate 

 scarcely glabrous bracts. Calyx usually covered with numerous small 

 squarrose scales, urceolate, with 4 or rarely 5 ovate-deltoid mucronate 

 lobes at apex. Petals wanting. Stamens as many as the lobes of the 

 caJyx ; filaments arising from about middle of the tube, short, included. 

 Style short. Capsule 1 -celled, enclosed in the tube of the calyx which 

 is constricted above it. 



Nile Land. Kordofan, Kotschy! 



6. A. diffusa, Willd. En. PL Hort. Berol. 167. Stem prostrate, 

 terete, rooting at the base, fiexuous, branched, about a foot high. 

 Leaves lanceolate, rather blunt at apex, narrowed at the very base, 

 scarcely auricled, about ^-in. long. Internodes J— f in. long. Flowers 

 and fruit small. Bracteoles minute. Flowers when youno- crowded, 

 few together on slender filiform pedicels and scarcely any peduncle. 

 Calyx 8-veined. Petals 4, of a violet colour, exceeding the calyx or 

 wanting. Stamens 4 or 8, equalling or exceeding the calyx, when 

 only 4 opposite the calyx-lobes. Ovary 2-celled; style rather short. — 

 A. gracilis, Guill. et Perr. Fl. Seneg. 301. 



Upper Guinea. Senegal, fl. April, Perrottet I 



7. A. crassicaulis, Guill. et Perr. Fl. Seneg. 303. Stem spongy, 

 erect or ascending, rooting near base, about a foot long. Leaves ob- 

 ovate-oblong, subsessile, attenuate at base, f-lf in. long, J-f in. wide. 

 Cymes 1-7-flowered ; common peduncle short in flower, lengthened 

 in fruit ; pedicels slender, long. Calyx with 4 shallow rounded emar- 

 ginate lobes, enlarged in fruit. Petals caducous. Stamens 4 (or 8 

 according to Guill. et Perr.), arising from bottom of calyx-tube, as long 

 as the calyx or rather longer. Ovary 4-celled at base, 2-celled above; 

 style short. Capsule large with thin purplish pericarp ; placenta corn- 



Upper Guinea. Senegal, Perrottet! (flowers trom March to May.) 

 North Central? E. Vogel! 



8. A. sarcophylla, Welw. mss. Annual, rather fleshy, branched 

 from the base, with rather thick stem and branches, here and there 

 rooting at the nodes and prostrate ; branches tetragonal, sometimes a 

 foot long. Leaves rather rigid, glaucescent, varying from ovate-lan- 

 ceolate with a cordate-auriculate base to auriculate-rotund, blunt, nearly 

 an inch long, spreading ; margins somewhat thickened, recurved, sub- 

 lepidote. Flowers in dense subsessile axillary clusters, those on oppo- 

 site sides of the branch confluent. Bracteoles lanceolate, minutely ciliate 

 on margins, unequal, some as long as the flower. Calyx campanulate, 

 with 4 deltoid lobes and 4 longer cornua ; cornua papillose or ciliate at 

 apex. Petals wanting. Stamens 4, equalling the calyx. Style very 



