4 Lxviii. UMBELLiFERiE (hiern). [HydrocotyU. 



1. H, BonariensiSy Lam. ; DC. Prod. iv. 60. Glabrous. Stem 

 creeping, usually rooting at the nodes. Leaves peltate, suborbicular, 

 doubly crenate or dentate, many- veined (14 or 16), often notched at 

 base, varying from less than an inch to nearly five inches across ; pe- 

 tioles solitary, or rarely two together, long, erect, varying in length from 

 an inch to a foot ; stipules short, wide, entire, caducous. Umbels 

 umbellate and umbellately branched with rays interruptedly whorled, 

 many-flowered, on erect peduncles longer than the petioles, and some- 

 times above a foot hioh. Ultimate pedicels short, distinct. Involucre 

 of many small lanceolate leaves, at every division of the umbel. Flowers 

 monoecious or polygamous, with green calyx and elliptic white petals, 

 inflexed at the apex and valvular in bud. Styles shorter than the fruit 

 and diverging. Fruit shortly suborbicular, emarginate and subcordate 

 at the base, about yV i^- wide; secondary ridges none. — H. petiol/iris, 

 DC. I.e. 



Upper GKiinea. Niger, Barter ! Vogel ! Ansell ! Camaroons mountains, Mann ! 

 Fl. and fr. June ; 2-3 ft. high. 



Mozamb. Distr. Zambesia, Dr. Kirk I Fr. Nov. and Dec. 



Also in Mauritius, Madagascar, and hotter parts of America. 



In damp places or by river banks. 



2. H. americana, Linn. ; DC. Prod. iv. 64. Var. /3. montieola, Hook. 

 J. (sp.) Joum. Linn. Soc. vii. 194. Very small, with slender, creeping, 

 elongated, and interlacing stems, 2-4 in. long, quite glabrous, excej)t 

 that the leaves beneath are sometimes pilose about the insertion of the 

 ])etiole. Leaves orbicular, with 6-9 crenate shallow lobes, about \ in. 

 ill diameter, with a sinus closed or nearly so extending quite up to the 

 })etiole. Petioles \-\ in. long, solitary or occasionally 2 together; 

 stipules rather large. Umbels subsessile, 2-4-flowered, with very short 

 i)edicels. Peduncles tV~tV i^- 1o^d> solitary. Involucre consisting of 

 linear bracts ; petals valvular in bud ; styles rather short. Fruit with 

 Hcutely marked primary ridges and without secondary ridges, about 

 2^4- in. wide. 



Upper Guinea. Fernando Po, 8500 ft. alt., Mann! 



Differs from the tropical form of the species by its smaller size and by its compara- 

 tively larger stipules. 



Var. y. minima, Hochst. (sp.) in A. Rich. Fl. Abyss, i. 319. Glabrous, 2-3 in. 

 long. Leaves minute, about ^ in. in diameter, 5-veined. Peduncles very short, bearing 

 .3 or 4 sessile flowers. 



Nile Ijand. Abyssinia, 10,000 ft. alt., fr. Feb., Schimper ! Ferret and Galinier ; 

 fi. end of Feb. (Fomi with monoecious flowers : male reddish with 3-4 stamens ; 

 female apetalous (?); stigma capitate.) 



The species occurs also in North and South America, New Zealand, Natal, &c. 



3. H. javanica^ Thunb. ; DC. Prod. iv. 67. Glabrous, perennial, 

 sarmentose with erect branching shoots, more than 6 in. high. Leaves 

 suliorbicular, membranaceous, alternate, 9-lobed, divided at the base up 

 to the insertion of the petiole ; lobes rounded, divided to aboiit ^ down, 

 crenate- serrate, 1 J-2 in. broad ; petioles erect, longer than the breadth 

 of the leaves ; stipules rather wide, entire ; peduncle shorter than the 



