BOERHAAVIA.] NYCTAGINACE&. 3 



Himalaya ; also in Ceylon and the Malay Peninsula ; extending to 

 China, Africa, America and the Islands of the Pacific. The root is 

 used medicinally and the leaves are eaten as a pot-herb. The viscid 

 perianth-tube containing the fruit is easily detached and thus becomes 

 widely distributed by animals. 



2. B. repanda, Willd. Sp. PI i, 22 ; Royle III. 312 ; F. B. 7. 

 iv, 709 ; Prain Beng. PL 863 ; Cooke Fl Bomb, ii, 480. 



A diffuse subscandent herb, glabrous or pubescent ; branches 3-6 ft. 

 long, cylindric, glabrous or nearly so. Leaves in nearly equal pairs, 

 1-3 in. long, triangular-ovate, acute or acuminate, repand-sinuate, 

 glabrous above, pubescent beneath, base cordate or truncate ; petioles 

 slender, J-l-J in. long. Umbels 3-8-fld., on long slender peduncles ; 

 pedicels filiform, J-l in. long ; bracteoles lanceolate, acute. Perianth 

 pink, about f in. long, lobes notched. Stamens 4 or 5, much exserted. 

 Fruit } in. long, clavate, obscurely ribbed, rough with glandular 

 projections. 



Plentiful within the area, and often found climbing amongst bushes. 

 DISTRIB. : Throughout the W. Peninsula ; also in Ceylon, Balu 

 chistan and Burma, extending to China and Australia. 



3. B. verticillata, Poir. Encycl. Method, v. 56 ; F. B. 1. iv, 710 ; 

 Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 480. Vern. Satha (Merwdra). 



A decumbent or climbing annual or perennial herb ; branches long, pale, 

 terete, glabrous. Leaves thick, H-2J in. long, often broader than 

 long, broadly ovate or suborbicular, obtuse, mucronate, usually 

 glabrous, margins sinuate, base usually cordate, petioles J-f in. 

 Flowers in long-peduncled racemes, arranged in distant few-flowered 

 whorls on a slender rhachis ; bracteoles small, ovate -oblong, acute, 

 deciduous, pedicels slender. Perianth usually white, J in. long, 

 lower portion constricted above the ovule, limb funnel-shaped, lobes 

 2-fid. Stamens slightly exserted. Fruit J in. long, clavate, with 

 large semi-globose glands round the crown. 



Merwara in Rajputana (Duthie). DISTRIB, : Punjab, Siud and in the 

 drier parts of the W. Peninsula ; also in Afghanistan ami Baluchi- 

 stan, extending westwards to Syria and Trop. Africa. 

 The following plants belonging to genera introduced from South 



America, are much grown in the gardens of North India : 



MIRABILIS JALAP A L. (Marvel of Peru) A tall much -branches 

 perennial herb, bearing a profusion of yellow white crimson or varie- 

 gated flowers. It is cultivated in all parts of India, and is sometimes 



