712 cxv. ILLECEBRACE^E. (J. D. Hooker.) [Herniaria. 



Gymnocarpos fruticosus, Pers., is in the Genera Plantarum (iii. 17) erroneously 

 stated to be a native of Scinde, owing to a misstatement in the Herbarium ; it has not 

 been -found further east than Beluchistan. 



TRIBE I. Paronychieae. Flowers clustered, all perfect and similar. 

 Embryo annular. 



Sepals 5, obtuse. Style 2-fid 1. HERNIARIA. 



TRIBE II. Pterantheae. Flowers 3-nate, surrounded by squarrose 

 bracts, the centre one of the 3 alone perfect. Embryo nearly straight. 



Floral leaves piunati partite 2. COMETES. 



1. HERNXARXA, Linn. 



Tufted prostrate small herbs. Leaves opposite or the upper alternate, 

 narrow. Flowers minute, in green axillary clusters. Sepals 4-5, obtuse, 

 connate below. Petals 4-5, minute, setaceous or 0. , Disk annular. 

 Stamens 4-5. Utricle indehiscent ; style 2-fid ; ovule erect. Seed subglo- 

 bose or reniform, testa crustaceous shining ;- embryo annular. Species 8 

 or 10, Europe, N. and S. Africa, "W. and Central Asia. 



K. hirsuta. Linn. ; strigosely hirsute, leaves elliptic- or linear- 

 oblong, sepals 5 not so broad as the rigid hairs are long, stigmas very short 

 subsessile. 



WESTERN HIMALAYA ; from Kashmir to Kunawur, alt. 4-8000 ft., Royle, &c. 

 The PANJAB, from the Sutlej to Peshawur. DISTRIB. Westward to the Atlantic and 

 the Canary Islands. 



Branches 2-8 in. long, densely tufted, internodes long or short. Leaves T \pij in., 

 acute or obtuse, base acute. Flowers T ' 6 r ' 5 in. long. Capsule as lonlg as the sepals. 

 I am quite unable to discriminate between the species of Herniaria, or to refer this 

 to any descriptions of Boissier. There is plenty of it under several forms in Griffith's 

 Affghan collections, and these Boissier alludes to under both H. incana, Lamk., and 

 H. cinerea, DC. (Fl. Orient, i. 739). The incana form looks at first sight very 

 distinct, but there appear to me to be many intermediates. 



VAR. incana; hoary, most densely matted, leaves densely crowded -^ in. long, 

 flowers many in a cluster ^ in. long. H. incana, Lamk. Diet. iii. 124 ; Boiss. Fl. 

 Orient, i. 74-1. H. macrocarpa, Sibth. Fl. Grcec.t. 252. H. Besseri, Fisch. in Hornem. 

 Suppl. Sort. Bot. Hafn. 127. 



2. COITCETES, Linn. 



Annual branched herbs. Leaves opposite, mucronate ; stipules setaceous. 

 Fl.owers 3 together, surrounded by feathery at length squarrose bracts, 

 centre flower only perfect. Sepals 5, erect, linear- oblong, awned behind. 

 Stamens 5, subperigyuous, alternating and united with 5 membranous 

 staminodes forming a cup below. Ovary narrow; style filiform, stigma 

 3-toothed ; ovule erect. Utricle obovoid. Seed obovoid, erect, testa mem- 

 branous; embryo large, on oae side of a scanty albumen ; cotyledons oblong, 

 plano-convex. Species 2, N. African and Oriental. 



C. surattensis, JBurm. Fl. Ind. 39, t. 15, f. 5; leaves petioled 

 elliptic acute at both ends, stamens longer than the staminodes. JBoiss. Fl. 

 Orient, i. 753; Wall. PI. As. Ear. i. 17, t. 17; Cat. 810. C. apiculata, 'Dene, 

 in Ann. Sc. Nat. Ser. 2, ii. 244. Ceratonychia Nidus, Edgew. in Journ. 

 As. Soc. Seng. xvi. 1215. 



