Mollugo.] LXIX. FICOIDE.E. (C. B. Clarke.) 663 



From the base of the EASTERN HIMALAYA to CEYLON and BURMA ; common. 

 {No example from North- West India, the Punjab or Scinde.) DISTRIB. Tropical Africa 

 and Australia. 



Stem branching, diffuse, leafy. Leaves j-1 in., usually whorled, spathulate lan- 

 ceolate or elliptic; petiole 0- in. Pedicels \-^ in. Sepals - in., oblong, margins 

 often membranous. Stamens 5-10. Stigmas 3, minute. Capsule ellipsoid, a little 

 shorter than the sepals. Seeds many, covered with raised tubercular points, the 

 appendage sometimes comprises a second, yet more minute, bristle. 



* Seeds not appendaged, inflorescence in terminal cymes or racemes. 



3. XK. stricta, Linn. ; DC. Prodr. i. 391 ; glabrous, stems much 

 branched leafy, seeds covered with raised tubercular points. Wall. Cat. 649 ; 



W. $ A. Prodr. 44 ; Dalz. Sf Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 16 ; Kurz in Journ. As. Soc. 

 1877, pt. ii. 111. M. triphylla, Lour. Fl. Cochinc. 79 ; DC. Prodr. i. 392; 

 Roxb. Hort. Beng. 9, Fl. Ind. i. 360 ; Wall. Cat. 651 ; W. $ A. Prodr. 44. 

 M. Linkii, Seringe in DC. I. c. M. pentaphylla, Linn. ; DC. Prodr. i. 391 : 

 Roxb. I. c. ; Wall. Cat. 650 ; W. $ A. Prodr. 44 ; Dalz. % Gibs. 1. c. Phar- 

 naceum strictum, triphyllum and pentaphyllum, Spreng. Syst. i. 949. Rheede 

 Hort. Mai. x. t. 26. 



Throughout INDIA and CEYLON, very common. DISTRIB. Eastward to Malacca, 

 China, Japan, Fiji. 



Often a foot high. Leaves f-1 \ in., whorled or opposite, varying from lanceolate 

 acute to obovate obtuse, much narrowed at the base ; petiole hence obscure. Cymes 

 compound, the branches sometimes racemed so that the inflorescence becomes like 

 that of M. disticha. Sepals y| in., elliptic or round. Stamens 3-5, filaments dilated. 

 Styles 3, short, linear. Capsule as long as the sepals, globose, many-seecTed, the 

 walls thin. Seeds dark chestnut-coloured; embryo curled into three-quarters of a 

 complete circle. 



4. M. Cerviana, Seringe in DC. Prodr. i. 392 ; glabrous, branched, cau- 

 line leaves linear-oblong, seeds reticulated without tubercular raised points. 

 Wall. Cat. 7128 ; W. ^A. Prodr. 44; Boiss. Fl. Orient, i. 756. M. umbellata, 

 Seringe 1. c. Pharnaceum Cerviana, Linn. ; Lamk. III. t. 214. 



From the PUNJAB to CEYLON, in the hotter drier parts of India ; not in Bengal. 

 DISTRIB. Asia, Africa to the Cape, Australia. 



Stems 3-6 in., erect, usually several. Leavqf \-\ in., radical tufted spathulate or 

 obovate, cauline linear-oblong often 4-8 in a whorl, whence spring umbellately many 

 branches. "Peduncles trichotomous or umbellate-cymose. Sepals T ^ in., elliptic or 

 round. Stamens 5. Styles very small. Capsule as long as the sepals, globose, 

 many-seeded. Seeds pink-chestnut or yellowish, covered with slightly elevated 

 oblong reticulations, bluntly ridged on the back ; embryo curled through less than a 

 semicircle. 



5. IKE, disticha, Seringe in DC. Prodr. i. 392 ; glabrous, branched, cau- 

 line leaves lanceolate, seeds smooth. Wall. Cat. 652 ; W. $f A. Prodr. 44 ; 

 Wight Ic. t. 3. Pharnaceum distichum, Linn. Mant. 221. 



SOUTH DECCAN PENINSTJLA and CEYLON. 



Stems often 12-18 in. Leaves -1 in., usually whorled, tapering almost to the 

 base. Flowers in cymes, the branches often ultimately prolonged as racemes. Sepals 

 %- in., ovate. Stamens 5. Styles 3, short. Capsule as long as the sepals, globose 

 or shortly ellipsoid, many-seeded. Seeds obscurely reticulated, shining chestnut, 

 bluntly ridged on the back; embryo curved through three-quarters of a circle. 

 Wight's figure represents this plant as hairy : it is glabrous or sometimes microscopi- 

 cally puberulo-glandular. 



