664 CXLVI. HYDROCHARiDE-E. (J. D. Hooker.) [Balophila. 



MADRAS, Cleghorn, Drew. CRYLOX, at Batticaloa, H. NevilL DISTEIB. Indian, 

 Malayan, Australian and Pacific Seas. 



Stems creeping and rooting at the nodes, with 2 convolute stipular scales at eadh 

 node. Leaves 2-2| in., membranous, with a broad costa and slender oblique 

 nerves. 



DOUBTFUL S"- -jJVK 



Thwaites gives (Enum. 333) Tlialassia^^^pulacea, Koen. (HalopMla stipulacea, 

 Aschcrs.), as being found at Trincoinal^j.J)y vey. 1 have seen n specimens 



from Ceylon, and suspect that is intended. //. ytipulacea is a Red Sea 



species with short peti<>i Ls ^ when-dry) bullate leaves. 



Herbs. Leav^R ^^P^v radical, entire,, o reduced to scales. 



Flowers bisexual, ^H BPpcate or racemed along one side of a forked 

 rachis, each opposi^d^^act. Perianth superior, persistent, 6-lobed or 

 cleft, rarely 3-1 <b^d, lobes valvate. Anthers 3 or 6, 2-celled, sessile on the 

 corolla. Ovary inferior, 3-celled or 1-celled with 3 parietal placentas ; 

 style single, stigmas various ; ovules numerous. Capsules loculucidal, or 

 dehiscence transverse. Seeds minute, testa reticulate, nucleus homogeneous. 

 Genera about 10, and species 54. 



Stem often leafy below. Ovary 3-celled. Stamens 3 ..... 1. BURMANNIA. 

 Stem scaly. Ovary 1-celled. Stamens 6 ........ 2. THISMIA. 



1. BURBXANNXA, Linn, 



Annual herbs with ensiform acuminate radical leaves (sometimes 

 reduced to scales or 9). Stem simple or divided. Flowers solitary, or 

 few, or more and unilateral on the branches of a forked cyme. Calyx-tube, 

 winged or angled, limb 3-lobed. Petals smaller or 0. Anthers 3, sessile or 

 subsessile, cells short separated by a broad connective, crested dorsally, 

 dehiscence transverse. Ovary 3-celled; style 3-lobed. Capsule sometimes 

 dehiscing transversely. 



1 find no characters in the perianth -lobes of the species whereby to distinguish 



* Radical leaves ensiform. 



1. B. disticha, Linn. Sp. PL 287; stem short, root- leaves 1-2^ in., 

 midrib obscure, flowers 3 f in. crowded and secund on the branches of an 

 erect forked cyme oblong or elliptic in outline, wings truncate or rounded at 

 the top. Boxb. Cor. PL iii. t. 242 ; FL Ind. ii. 117 ; Grah. Cat. Bomb. PL 

 225; Don Prodr. 44; Wall. Cat. 9004 ; Benth, FL Austral, vi. 397. B. 

 distachya, Br. Prodr. 265 ; Burm. Fl. Zeyl. 50, t. 20, f. 1. 



TROPICAL HIMALAYA; Nepal, Wallich. SIKKIM, Griffith's Collector. KHASIA 

 MTS. abundant. The DECCAN PENI>SULA; from the Concan south waids to Ceylon. 

 DISTRIB. China, Australia. 



Root fibrous. Lcares many, ^-J in. broad. Forks of cyme 1-3 in. ; bracts 

 j in. ; flowers bright blue. 



VAR. sumatrana ; leaves narrower more gradually tapering. B. sumatrana, 

 Miq. FL Ind. Bat. Suppl. 617. Malacca, on Mt. Ophir, Griffith, &c. Sumatra, 

 Banca, China. 



2. B. long-ifolia, Beccari Malesia i. 244, t. 13, f. 1-5 ; stem long 



