Mitracarpum.^ Lxx. kubiack.* (hiern). 243 



76. MITRACARPUM, Zaccar. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. 



ii. p. 146. 



Calyx campanul ate- turbinate ; limb of 4 teeth, of which 2 are much 

 larger than the other pair, persistent. Corolla funnel-shaped, mem- 

 branous ; throat not quite naked ; lobes 4, spreading, valvate in the 

 bud. Stamens 4, glabrous, inserted at the top of the corolla-tube 

 filaments short ; anthers oblong, fixed by the back. Disk annular 

 elevated. Ovary 2-celled ; style slender, with 2 short slender branches 

 ovules solitary, peltately attached to the middle of the septum, amphi 

 tropous. Fruit subdidymous, bursting transversely round the middle 

 seeds attached about the midd.^? of the face and usually coming away 

 with the upper part of the membranous pericarp, marked on the 

 ventral face with a diagonally placed impressed cross. Radicle in- 

 ferior. Testa pitted. — Herbs with opposite leaves, short truncate 

 setose stipules adnate to the base of the leaves, and small hermaphrodite 

 crowded verticillate flowers arranged in axillary and terminal heads. 



A genus of moderate size, chiefly occurring in tropical America. 



There is in the Kew Herbarium a specimen from the " South African gold-field," 

 collected by T. Baines and received in 1871, which may or may not be tropical, and 

 which apparently belongs to Mitracarjmm Dregeanum, E. Mey., a species, however, 

 which is perhaps rather a Spermacoce. 



1. llf . scabrum, Zuccarini ex Scliult. Mant. in Boevi. et Scliult. 

 Syst. Veg. iii. p. 210, ohs. suh n. 69. A sturdy annual, almost sufiTra- 

 ticose at the base, erect, branched, 1-2 feet high. Stem and branches 

 subterete below, obtusely 4-sided above, subcompressed towards the 

 apex, puberulous or glabrate. Leaves oval or oblong, obtuse or nearly 

 so, wedge-shaped at the base, puberulous beneath or nearly glabrous 

 except the finely scabrous margin, 1-2^ by \-\ in,, subsessile, veins 

 slender, not conspicuous ; setae of the stipules 5-7, about as long as the 

 sheath. Flowers white. Calyx-limb of 2 oblong or oblong-lanceolate 

 obtuse or acute teeth and of 2 subulate smaller ones. Corolla-tube as 

 long as the larger calyx-teeth. Bracteoles filiform, scarcely equalling 

 the calyx-teeth. — if. senegalense^ DC. Prodr. iv. p. 572. M. verticilla- 

 turn, Vatke in Linneea, xl. p. 196. Staurospermum verticiUatum, Schum. 

 et Thonn. Beskr. Guin. PI. p. 73. Oldenlandia verticillata. Bade ex 

 DC. I. c. Mitracarpum, sp. n. 2, T. Thorns, in Speke, Journ., App. p, 636. 



upper Guinea. Senegambia, Bade, Terrotlet and Lcprieur, Roger! Guinea, 

 Thonning ; Sierra Leone, Th. Vogel! Accra, G. Don! Dahomey, Consul Btirioti ! 

 Niger Expedition, Baikie! at Nupo, Barter! 



UTortb Central. Kouka, E. Vogel! common in hedges at Udge. E. Vogel! 



Hile Iiand. Nubia, Cordofan and Sennaar, Kotschy ! White Nile. Ptth rick ! and 

 others; Abyssinia, Schiviper! Unyoro, Speke and Grant! Djur-land, Schweinfurth ! 



Ziower Guinea. Congo, Chr. Smith! 

 Also in the Cape de Verde Islands, 



77. RUBIA, Toura. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen, PI. ii. p. 149. 



Calyx-tube subglobose ; limb obsolete. Corolla rotate or subcam- 



panulate ; lobes 5, rarely 4, valvate in the bud. Stamens 5, rarely 4, 



inserted on the tube of the corolla ; filaments short ; anthers oblong. 



Disk shortly cushion-shaped. Ovary 2-celled or towards \hc base or 



