2 NYCTAGINACE&. [ BOERHAAVIA. 



long or short, ovoid below ; limb funnel-shaped, 5-lobed. 



Stamens 1-5, exserted. Ovary oblique, stipitate, stigma peltate. 

 ItFSuit si^a, : 6-jjil>bed or -angled, viscidly glandular. Embryo 



ftotfked ; ctftyieffoiiS. b'road and thin, the outer the larger, enclosing 

 ; eqt.s<?antj.atyumen.~Species about 30, in tropical and sub-tropical 

 ' '* bbth 



Fruit glandular on the ribs, not at the 



crown : 



Leaves of each pair very unequal, entire 

 or subundulate ; flowers subcapitate, 

 pink or purple ... .1- B. diffusa. 



Leaves of each pair nearly equal, repand- 

 sinuate ; flowers in umbels, long-pedi- 

 celled, pink . . 2. B. repanda. 



Fruit with large semiglobose glands round 

 the crown ; flowers in whorls, usually 

 white ; leaves obtuse . . . . 3. B. verticillata. 



1. B, difftisa, Linn. Sp. PL 3 ; Royle III. 312 ; Watt E. D. ; 

 Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 480. B. repens, Linn. ; F. B. I. iv, 709 ; 

 Collett Fl. Siml. 410, fig. 131 ; Prain Beng. PL 862. B. repens, 

 var&. diffusa and procumbens, F. B. I. L c. and Prain I. c. B. 

 procumbens, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 146. 



A diffusely branched herb ; root stout, fusiform, rootstock woody. Stems 

 2-3 ft. long, slender, prostrate or ascending, swollen at the nodes, 

 minutely hairy and sometimes viscid or subglabrous, often tinged 

 with purple. Leaves rather thick, arranged in unequal pairs at each 

 node, J-1J in. long, ovate oblong or sub-orbicular, green and 

 glabrous above, usually white beneath ; base rounded or subcordate, 

 margins subundulate, often pink ; petioles about as long as the blade. 

 Flowers minute, subcapitate, 4-10 together in small bracteolate 

 umbels forming slender long-stalked axillary and terminal panicles ; 

 bracteoles lanceolate, acute. Perianth J in. long ; tube glandular- 

 hairy ; limb red, funnel-shaped, with 5 narrow vertical bands out- 

 side. Stamens 2 or 3, slightly exserted. Fruit \ in. long, clavate, 

 rounded, viscidly glandular on the 5 broad blunt ribs. 



An abundant weed within the area of this flora, and very variable in 

 habit and pubescence according to soil and situation DISTRIB. : 

 Throughout India, ascending to 7,000 ft. in the warm valleys of the 



