Pellionia."] vuticem. • 331 



more, bard at the base. Leaves alternate, oblique, narrow-elliptical or oblong 

 acuminate, usually 1^ to 3 in. long, serrate above the middle, very unequal at 

 the base, very scabrous above, pubescent underneath. Male cymes loose, on 

 slender pedicels of 2 to 4 lines. Perianth-segments 1 line long, ovate, with 

 a green point below the top, usually 4 only. Female cymes very compact 

 and sessile. Bracts small. Perianth-segments usually 4, narrow, very un- 

 equal, the longest about \ line long. Sterile stamens very minute or none. 

 Nut tuberculate. 



Hongkong, Harland, HanceJVright; in ravines of Mounts Gongh and Victoria, Wilford. 

 Not known out of the island. It is allied to P. heterophylla, Wedd., from Sikkim; but 

 that is glabrous, or nearly so, besides differences in the flowers. 



7. BCEHMERIA, Jacq. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious, in small dense clusters; the clusters in uni- 

 sexual spikes or panicles. Male perianth usually of 4 segments, valvate in 

 the bud, with 4 stamens. Female perianth enclosing the ovary, 2- or 

 4 -toothed. Ovary 1 -celled, with 1 erect ovule. Stigma subulate, continuous 

 with the ovary and persistent. Fruit a seed-like nut, enclosed in the thin 

 perianth. Seed albuminous. — Under-shrubs, shrubs, or small trees. Leaves 

 alternate or opposite, usually toothed. 



A large genus dispersed over the New and the Old World, chiefly within the tropics, with 

 a very few extra-tropical Asiatic or N. American species. 



1. B. nivea, Hook, mid Am.; Wedd. Mon. Urt. 380; Kew Journ. Bot. 

 iii. t. 8. An erect branching hirsute perennial or undershrub, 4 ft. high or 

 more. Leaves alternate, very broadly ovate, acuminate, toothed, 4 or 5 in. 

 long, cordate or cuneate at the base, green and roughly pubescent above, very 

 white underneath. Female clusters small, globular, very numerous, in axillary 

 panicles. Male panicles smaller, usually below the females. Fruiting peri- 

 anth verv small, oblong, compressed. — tlrtica tenac'mima, Eoxb. ; Wight, Ic. 

 t 688. 



Common in ravines, Champion. Abundant, either wild or in cultivation, in various parts 

 of China, eastern India, and the Archipelago, furnishing the Chinese Grass-cloth. 



8. POUZOLSIA, Gaud. 



Flowers monoecious, in axillary or spicate clusters. Male perianth of 3 to 

 5 segments, convex on the back, valvate in the bud. Stamens as many. Fe- 

 male perianth enclosing the ovary, 2- or 4-toothed. Ovary 1-celled, with 1 

 erect ovule. Stigma subulate, articulate on the ovary, and deciduous. Nut 

 seed-like, enclosed in the persistent and occasionally 2 -winged perianth. 

 Seed albuminous. — Herbs or shrubs. Leaves alternate or opposite, usually 

 entire, 3 -nerved, the lateral nerves branching, and never reaching the summit 

 of the leaf. 



A tropical genus common to the New and the Old World. 



1. P. indica, Gaud. ; Wedd. Mon. Urt. 398. A diffusely branched pu- 

 bescent herb or undershrub, procumbent, ascending or rarely erect. Lower 

 leaves usually opposite, upper ones alternate, all entire, varying much in size 

 and shape, in the Hongkong specimens ovate or almost cordate, about 1 in. 



