662 LXIX. FICOIDEJ;. (C. B. Clarke.) [Mollugo. 



Stems 6-18 in., somewhat angular or trigonous. Leaves f-1 in., obovate, cuspi- 

 date ; petiole ^ in. Cymes with small lanceolate bracts at their divisions ; flowers 

 ^ in. diam., pedicelled. Sepals purplish-green, with scarious edges, acute. Capsule 

 | in. diam. Seeds black, not shining, with numerous concentric elevated lines. 



5. BEOX.X.UGO, Linn. 



Herbs, branched, often dichotomous. Leaves often falsely whorled, or 

 alternate, or all radical, from linear to obovate, entire ; stipules quickly disap- 

 pearing. Flowers axillary, sessile or pedicelled, clustered or in cymes or 

 racemes, small, greenish ; bracts inconspicuous. Sepals 5, persistent. Petals ; 

 staminodes or small in the same species. Stamens 5-3, rarely many. Ovary 

 free, globose or ellipsoid, 3-5-celled j styles 3-5, linear or very small \ ovules 

 many, axile. Capsule membranous, sheathed by the sepals, 3-5-celled, dehiscing 

 dorsally. Seeds several in each cell, rarely 1, reniform, appendaged or not at the 

 hilum ; embryo annular. DISTRIB. Species 12, tropical and subtropical. 



* Seeds with an appendage at the hilum, inflorescence in axillary clusters. 



1. BE. hirta, Thunb. Fl. Cap. 120 ; flowers sessile or pedicelled, appen- 

 dage of the seed a membranous scale from which proceeds a linear bristle that 

 curls half round the seed. DC. Prodr. i. 391. M. Glinus, A. Rich. FL Abyss. 

 i. 48 ; Kurz in Journ. As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 110. i^linus lotoides, Linn. ; LamJc. 

 III. t. 413 ; DC. Prodr. iii. 455 ; Wall. Cat. 15ir ; W. $ A. Prodr. 362 ; Sibth. 

 FL Grcec. t. 472 ; Dalz. $ Gibs. Somb. FL 16 ; Soiss. FL Orient, i. 755. G. 

 dictamnoides, Linn. Mant. 243 ; DC. L c. ; Wall. Cat. 1518 ; W. $ A. Prodr. 

 362. Soiss. 1. c. i. 756. G. parviflora, Wall. Cat. 1519. Pharnaceum penta- 

 gonum, Roxb. Hort. Seng. 22, FL Ind. ii. 103. Tryphera prostrata, Blume ; 

 A. DC. Prodr. xiii. pt. ii. 424. 



Throughout INDIA and CEYLON, common. DISTRIB. All warm regions. 



Stellately woolly, sometimes less hairy, rarely glabrous. Stem prostrate, much 

 branching, leafy. Leaves -1 in., opposite or whorled, usually obovate but vary from 

 round to narrow-lanceolate ; petiole 0-^ in. Flowers usually sessile or nearly so ; 

 pedicels sometimes f in. Sepals ^-^ in., elliptic or oblong, acute. Staminodes linear 

 or 0. Stamens usually 10 or more but vary to 5. Styles 3-5, linear, short. Cap- 

 sule a little shorter than the sepals, oblong. Seeds many, covered with raised tuber- 

 cular points ; the appendage sometimes carrying more than one bristle. A variable 

 weed of which the following are the most notice-worthy varieties. 



VAR. 1. typica; flowers sessile, sepals ^ in. more or less stellately tomentose. 

 Glinus dictamnoides, W. $ A. Prodr. 362. 



VAR. 2. lotoides, W. $ A. Prodr. 362 (sp.); pedicels of the flowers -f in., sepals 

 ^ in. stellately tomentose. Hills of the DECCAN PENINSULA. 



VAR. 3. Keenani; stem slightly pubescent, leaves glabrous petioled lanceolate, 

 flowers sessile, sepals in. glabrous with scarious margins, capsule oblong the seeds 

 clearly seen through the walls, seeds exactly of Var. 1 but smaller than usual. 

 Cachar, It. L. Keenan ; possibly a good species but it can be nearly matched out of 

 the African bundles of Var. 1. 



2. BE. Sperg-ula, Linn. ; DC. Prodr. i. 391 ; glabrous or nearly so, 

 flowers pedicelled, seed appendaged by a minute short subulate bristle. Wall. 

 Cat. 653 ; W. $ A. Prodr. 44; Kurz in Journ. As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 111. M. 

 verticillata, Roxb. Hort. Sena. 9, Fl. Ind. i. 360, not of Linn. M. parviflora, 

 DC. Prodr. i. 391. Pharnaceum parviflorum, Roth, Nov. Sp. 186. P. Mol- 

 lugo, Linn. Mant. 561 ; Roxb. Hort. Seng. 22, FL Ind. ii. 102. Glinus Mol- 

 lugo, Fenzl in Ann. Wien. Mus. i. 359. Rheede Hort. Mai. x. t. 24. 



