EXICOSTEMA.] GENTIANACE2E. I t 73 



2. ENICOSTEMA, Blame ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv/100. 



Krect or decumbent branching herbs. Leave opposite, sessile, 

 Flowers small, in sessile axillary clusters. Calyvtube campanulate ; 

 lobes 5, lanceolate Corolla Jtubular below, narrowly funnel-ahaped 

 above; lobes 5, small. Stamens 5, attached to the corolla-tube; 

 filaments linear, with a small double-hooded scale on the inner side 

 of each at the hase ; anthers erect, not twisted, acute. Ovary 1- 

 celled, placentas slightly intruded ; style short, stigma capitate, 

 ovules many. Capsule ellipsoid. Seeds many, subglobose, foveolate. 

 Species 4, two in Trop. Africa one of which occurs also in India, one 

 in Madagascar and one in Trop. America. 



E.littorale, Blume Bijdr. 848; F. B. I. iv, 101; Watt. E. D.; Cooke Fl. 

 Bomb, n, ISO. Gentiana verticillata, Linn. ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii, 71 Slevotia 

 verticillata, D. Don in Trans. Linn. Soc. scvii, 532. Yern. Chota chiretta. 



A glabrous perennial herb, 4-20 in. high, branching from the base. Stem s 

 erect or procumbent, usually 4-angled. Leaves sessile, decussate, 

 12 in. long, varying in shape from linear to elliptic-lanceolate, 

 3-nerved, the two marginal ones often obscure. F louvers in whorled 

 clusters, white, Calyx % in. long; lobes as long as the tube, obtuse, 

 with narrow membranous margins. Corolla tubular, in. long ; lobes 

 7 ^in., elliptic, acute. Anthers included. Stigma large, 2-lobed. 

 Capsule %-\ in. long, narrowed towards the base, 



Common in wet places. Flowers during the rainy season. DISTRIB- 

 Throughout the greater part of India especially near the sea, but 

 apparently not in Bengal. It occurs in Ceylon and extends to Java, 

 Trop. and S. Africa and the W. Indies. The plant is used as a bitter 

 ionic, especially in W. and S. India. 



3, ERYTHR/EA, Renealm ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 101.! 



Herbs, annual or perennial, erect, branching. Leaves opposite, 

 sessile or amplexicaul. Flowers (in the Indian species) pink or 

 white, arranged in dichotomous often corymbose cymes. Calyx 

 tubular, 5 or 4-fid., lobes keeled. Corolla-tube long or short ; lobes 

 6 or 4, spreading. Stamens 5 or 4, inserted near the summit of 

 the corolla-tube ; filaments short, linear ; anthers narrowly oblong, 

 usually^exserted, often spirally twisted. Ovary 1-oelled plaoentas 

 much intruded, style linear, stigma 2-lobed. Capsule oblong, about 

 as long as the calyx, nearly 23elled, many seeded. Seeds very 

 small, fbveolate. Species about 30, chiefly in temperate and sub- 



