162 



FLORA. OF JAMAICA 



Microtea 



cotyledons flattish-concave, one twice as large as the other ; 

 radicle thick, short. 



Sf)ecies 10, natives of West Indies and tropical South 

 America. 



M. debUis<S«<?. Prodr. 53 (1788) & Fl. Ind. Oct: 543, /. 12; 

 Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. pt. 2, 17 ; Griaeh. Fl. Br. W. Ind. 59. 



(Fig. 58.) 



Fig. 6B.—Mierotta debilia Sw. 



A, Upper portion of l)ranchi x j. 



B, Flower witli part of periantli removed X 10. 

 C, Fruit X 10. 



Sea-coast, Negril, Harris ! Fl. Jam. 10,214. — St. Cruz, St. Eustatius, 

 8t. Kitta, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, 

 Tobago, Trinidad, Kuatan, tropical America. 



Plant ^IJ ft. Leaves obovate or oblanceolate, 3-7 cm. 1., l"6-3*5 

 cm. br. Perianth white, 1 mm. 1. Fruit 1-5 mm. 1., greenish-black 

 covered with a white network uniting the tubercles. 



Family XIX. FICOIDEACE^. 



Herbs. Leaves opposite, alternate or spuriously whorled, 

 entire. Flowers hermaphrodite. Perianth with 5 segments, 

 free from ovary (in W. Indian genera), greenish, imbricate, 

 persistent in fruit. Stamens perigynous or hypogynous, definite 

 or indefinite. Ovary 3-5-celled (1-celled in Trinnthema). Styles 

 as many as the cells of the ovary. Fruit a capsule, loculicidally 



