RUBIACE^E. LXVIII. SIPANEA. LXIX. VIRECTA. LXX. OPHIORHIZA. 



521 



3 S. GLOMERA'TA (H. B. et Kunth, nov. gen. amer. 3. p. 398.) 

 stems unknown ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, clothed with silky 

 tomentum on both surfaces, with undulated margins ; flowers 

 glomerate, terminal, and axillary. I/ . S. Native on the banks 

 of the Orinoco, between Atures and Carichana, in inundated 

 places. Virficta glomerata, Spreng. syst. 1. p. 702. Ptychodea 

 sessiliflora, Willd. herb, ex Cham, et Schlecht. 1. c. Corolla 

 yellow, with a silky tube, which is 4 times longer than the 

 calyx. 



Glomerate- flowered Sipanea. PI. creeping ? 



4 S. BIFLORA (Lin. fil. suppl. p. 134.) stem creeping; leaves 

 ovate, obtuse ; peduncles terminal, rising from the forks of the 

 branches, 2-flowered. O- S. Native of Surinam and Brazil, 

 in humid places. Cham, et Schlecht. in Linnaea. 4. p. 168. 

 Rondeletia biflora, Rottb. pi. sur. 7. t. 2. f. 2. A. Rich. mem. 

 soc. hist. nat. par. 5. p. 271. Virecta virens, Vahl. symb. 2. 

 p. 38. Gaertn. fil. carp. t. 184. There is a tooth between each 

 of the calycine lobes, according to Lin. fil., but according to 

 Gaertn. there are none ; but in the specimens examined there 

 are 5 subulate teeth, and 5 minute ones between these. 



Tivo-florvered Sipanea. PI. creeping. 



Cult. The species of this genus possess no beauty, and 

 are therefore only worth cultivating in botanical gardens. The 

 seeds should be sown in spring, on a hot-bed, and the plants, when 

 of sufficient size, should be planted into separate pots, and shifted 

 from size to size of pots as they grow. 



LXIX. VIRE'CTA (from virectum, a green place ; from the 

 agreeable greenness of the leaves). D. C. prod. 4. p. 414. 

 Virecta species, Smith, but not of Lin. fil. Sipanea species, A. 

 Rich. ? Phyteumoldes, Smeathmann, in herb. L'Her. 



LIN. SYST. Pentdndria, Monogynia. Calyx with an ovate 

 short tube, and 5 linear-setaceous lobes. Corolla funnel-shaped, 

 with aji obconical tube, about equal in length to the lobes of 

 the calyx, a naked throat, and 5 linear-oblong ciliated lobes. 

 Stamens 5 : having the filaments much exserted beyond the 

 throat ; anthers linear, oscillatory, bifid at the base. Style fili- 

 form, equal in length to the stamens. Stigma hardly thickened, 

 undivided. Capsule globose, crowned by the calycine lobes in 

 the young state, but almost naked in the adult state, 2-celled, 

 and at length dehiscing at the cells. Seeds innumerable, 4-5- 

 sided, and a little muricated. Hairy herbs, with opposite 

 branches. Leaves opposite, oval-oblong. Stipulas twin on each 

 side, lanceolate. Flowers white or yellow, disposed in dense cy- 

 mose corymbs: branchlets of cyme elongated after flowering. 

 This genus is nearly allied to Sipanea, but differs in the genitals 

 being exserted ; it differs also from Hedybtis in the quinary 

 number of the floral parts, and in the exserted stamens, &c. 



1 V. MULTIFLORA (Smith, in Rees's cycl. no. 4.) stem erect ; 

 leaves ovate-lanceolate, almost sessile. Native of Sierra Leone, 

 where it was collected by Smeathmann. Phyteumoides hirsuta, 

 Smeathm. in herb. L'Her. Perhaps Sipanea angustifolia, A. 

 Rich. mem. soc. hist. nat. par. 5. p. 276. is the same as the 

 present plant. Flowers white. 



Many-flowered Virecta. PI. 2 to 3 feet. 



2 V. PROCU'MBENS (Smith, 1. c. no. 2.) stem procumbent ; 

 leaves ovate, 3 times longer than the petioles. % . S. Native 

 of Sierra Leone. 



Procumbent Virecta. PI. procumbent. 



3 V. LU'TEA ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acuminated, hairy ; 

 pedicels aggregate, axillary ; calyx 5-toothed ; corolla tubular, 

 5-cleft, hairy. I/ . S. Native of Sierra Leone, in cultivated 

 places. Flowers yellow. Habit of Lithosptrmum. Perhaps 

 the same as V. procumbens. 



Yellow-fi.ou/ered Virecta. PI. rambling. 



4 V, ELA'TIOR (D. C. prod. 4. p. 415.) leaves oval-lanceolate, 



VOL. III. 



rounded at the base and abruptly petiolate, acute at the apex, 

 smoothish ; flowers terminal, almost aggregate ; calycine seg- 

 ments very unequal, smoothish ; tube of corolla very long. 

 I/ . S. Native of Angola, in south-western Africa. Sipanea 

 elatior, A. Rich. mem. soc. hist. nat. par. 5. p. 276. 



Taller Virecta. PL 



5 V.? PANICULA'TA ; suffruticose, branched, clothed with 

 brown or copper-coloured hairs ; leaves oval-lanceolate ; co- 

 rymbs panicled, axillary, and terminal. \ . S. Native of Sierra 

 Leone, on the mountains. Flowers small, greenish. 



Panicled-fiowered Virecta. Shrub. 



Cult. For culture and propagation see Sipanea above. 



LXX. OPHIORHPZA (from o<<e, ophis, a snake, and p<a. 

 rhiza, a root ; used for the cure of the bite of the riband snake). 

 Lin. fl. zeyl. no. 402. Gaertn. fruct. 1. p. 264. t. 55. R. Br. 

 prod. 1. p. 450. A. Rich. mem. soc. hist. nat. par. 1823. 

 vol. l.p. 67. Roxb. fl. ind. 2. p. 554. Blum, bijdr. p. 976. 

 D. Don, prod. fl. nep. p. 135. D. C. prod. 4. p. 415. Ophio- 

 rhiza species, Lin. gen. no. 210. and others. 



LIN. SYST. Pentdndria, Monogynia, Calyx with a short 

 turbinate tube, which is adnate to the ovarium at the base, and 

 a 5-cleft permanent limb. Corolla tubularly funnel-shaped, 3- 

 times longer than the limb of the calyx, hairy inside ; with 5 

 ovate segments. Stamens 5, inclosed. Style filiform, girded 

 by an urceolus at the base ; stigma 2-lobed, shorter than the 

 corolla. Capsule broad, compressed, 2-lobed, almost mitre- 

 formed, crowned by the calycine teeth, internally divided 

 into 2 cells by a transverse partition, opening between the 

 remains of the 2 fleshy nectareal lips, or by a transverse chink 

 round the apex. Seeds numerous, small, hexagonal. Embryo 

 straight, slender, in fleshy or rather horny albumen. Dwarf 

 perennial herbs, natives of the East Indies. Leaves opposite, 

 petiolate, membranous, those opposite each other often unequal 

 in size. Stipulas twin on each side, small. Peduncles axillary 

 and terminal, solitary, cymose at the apex, with sub-umbellate 

 branches. Flowers disposed along the branches of the pedun- 

 cles in a single unilateral row. 



1 O. MU'NGOS (Lin. amcen. 2. p. 117. spec. 213. mat. med. 

 27. with a bad figure, but not of Burm.) suffruticose; leaves 

 elliptic-lanceolate, acuminated at both ends, glabrous, papery ; 

 Stipulas small, truncate ; cymes pedunculate, terminal, branched ; 

 tube of corolla short, funnel-shaped. If.. S. Native of Java, 

 Ceylon, Sumatra, Pulo Penang, &c. Blum, bijdr. p. 976. Roxb. 

 fl. ind. 2. p. 544. Gaertn. fr. 1. t. 55.? A. Rich. 1. c. t. 2. 

 Radix. Mungo. Kcempf. amcen. 573. and 577. Stipulas a slight 

 connecting membrane. Nectary a 2-lipped terminal body, sur- 

 rounding the base of the style. Flowers white. The root is 

 very bitter, and is celebrated as an alexiteric, the trunk of which 

 is horizontal, and the fibres perpendicular. The plant is called 

 in Ceylon Ekamerya and Naghawalli, from nagha, the riband- 

 snake, for the bite of which it is accounted a specific. 



Mungos' Snake-root. Fl. May, Dec. Clt. 1820. PI. 1 to 2 ft. 



2 O. BRACTEOLA'TA (Wall. cat. no. 6228.) stem ascending, 

 villous above, simple, or a little branched ; leaves unequal in 

 size in each pair, as is the case in most of the species ; Stipulas 

 ensiform, pubescent; common peduncles slender, villous, from 

 3-5 inches long. I/ . S. Native of the valley of Nipaul, in dark 

 moist situations. 



Bracteolate Snake-root. PI. 1 foot. 



3 O. OBLONGIFOLIA (D. C. prod. 4. p. 415.) suffruticose, 

 downy at the apex as well as on the peduncles ; leaves ob- 

 long, bluntish, attenuated at the base, glabrous above, pale and 

 rather velvety beneath ; Stipulas small, triangular, acute ; cymes 

 pedunculate, branched ; tube of corolla short. J? . ? It . ? S. 



3X 



