486 lviii. lythrace^ (hiern). [Olinia. 



Nile Land. Abyssinia, Ankober, fl. and fr. June, Roth! 



Lower Guinea. Angola, Huilla, 5000 ft. alt., fl. Deceniber, Dr. Welwitsch! 



Punica Granatum, L., the pomegranate, forming an anomalous genus, occurs occa- 

 sionally as an escape from cultivation in Angola (Distr. Golungo Alto, Welwitsch! 

 2333), and is cultivated in Abyssinia, Sennaar, and Kordofan. 



Order LIX. ONAGRABJE JE. (By Prof. Oliver.) 



Flowers usually hermaphrodite,regular, 4-5-merous (in trop. African 

 species). Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, sometimes produced more 

 or less above ; lobes valvate. Petals as many as calyx-lobes, fugacious, 

 contorted or imbricate. Stamens usually as many or twice as many as 

 calyx-lobes. Ovary inferior, usually 4- or- 2- celled ; ovules axile, in- 

 definite or solitary. Fruit a capsule, often thin or membranous, dehis- 

 cent by valves or irregularly, or (in Trapa) a nut. Seeds indefinite or 

 solitary, exalbuminous or nearly so. — Herbs or rarely shrubs, often 

 aquatic. Leaves opposite or alternate, entire or toothed, stipulate. 

 Flowers axillary, usually solitary. 



A considerable Order, common to both hemispheres, and most abundant in the North 

 Temperate zone. No genera are peculiar to Africa ; fourteen to America. 



Seeds indefinite. 



Seeds comose 1. Epilobium. 



Seeds not comose. 



Diplostemonous 2. Jusslea. 



Isostemonous 3. Ludwigia. 



Seed solitary. Fruit a horned nut. (Floating herb.) 4. Trapa. 



1. EPILOBIUM, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, i. 787. 



Calyx-tube narrow, elongate, terete or tetragonous, not at all or 

 scarcely produced above the ovary ; limb 4-partite, deciduous. Petals 

 4, obovate or obcordate. Stamens 8 ; anthers oblong- or linear. Ovary 

 4-celled ; style filiform, stigma clavate, entire or 4-lobed ; ovules oo. 

 Capsule narrow, dehiscing loculicidally by 4 valves from above. Seeds 

 oo , comose. — Usually herbs, erect or procumbent. Leaves opposite or 

 alternate, simple, denticulate or entire. Flowers axillary, solitary or 

 racemose, usually rose or purple. 



A large genus of the North Temperate zone, with numerous outliers in New Zealand. 

 Excepting E. hirsutum, the following may prove to be peculiar to Tropical Africa, 

 though, with our present material, and without working up the extra-African species, 

 I cannot at present feel clear as to this. 



Stigma 4-partite, with recurved lobes. Uniformly pilose or 



hiisute 1. E. hirsutum. 



Stigma entire or at any rale not 4-partite. Glabrous, glabres- 

 cent, or pubescent only in decurrent lines and on the leaf- 

 margin and nerve. 



Leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, base cordate, callous- 

 denticulate. Capsule and peduncle 4-44 m 2. E. cordifolium. 



Leaves ovate-elliptical, callous-denticulate. Capsule and pe- 

 duncle 1-1 4 in. (Fl. subsessile.) 3. E. Schimperianum . 



Leaves oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, minutely denticulate. Cap- 

 sule and -peduncle 2-4fc in 4. E. stereophyUum, 



