Gentimiacece.'] gentianace.-e. 233 



Order LXXIII. GENTIANACE^. 



Sepals 4 or 5, rarely more, usually more or less vmited in a lobed or toothed 

 calyx. Corolla usually regular, with as many lobes as sepals, (;ontorted in 

 the bud. Stamens as many as corolla-lobes, and alternate with them, or very 

 rarely fewer, inserted in the tube. Ovary 1 -celled, but with 2 parietal phicentas 

 often projecting into the cavity so as partially to divide it into 2 or 4 cells. 

 Ovules numerous. Style single, entire, or with 2 short stigraatic lobes. Truit 

 a capsule, opening septicidally in two valves or veiy rarely an indehiscent 

 beiTy. Seeds small, with a fleshy albumen. Embryo small, straight, with 

 short fleshy cotyledons. — Herbs, or very rarely shrubs, usually glabrous and 

 bitter. Leaves almost always opposite and entire, often 3- or more nei*ved at 

 the base, without stipules. Tlowers usually in cymes. 



An Order chiefly abundant in the temperate or mountainous regions of the northern hemi- 

 sphere, with a (ew tropical or southern species. 



1. EXACUM, Linn. 



Calyx deeply 4- or 5 -lobed ; the sepals keeled or winged on the back. 

 Corolla rotate, persistent, with a short tube, becoming globose as the flower 

 fades. Anthers opening in terminal pores. Ovary almost completely 2-celled. 

 Style deciduous, with a capitate stigma. Capsule opening septicidally in 2 

 valves, usually leaving the placentas free. — Herbs, usually annual and quite 

 glabrous. Flowers blue, purple-pink, or white, in terminal cymes. 



A small genus, limited to tropical Asia. 



1. E. tetragonum, Roxb.; Wall. PI. As. Rar. t.21Q; Bot. Mag. t. 4340; 

 Grlseb. in DC. Frod. ix. 44. An erect stout glabrous annual, 1 to 2 feet 

 high, the stem usually simi)le and acutely 4-angled or almost winged. Leaves 

 sessile or stem-clasping, from broadly ovate to ovate-lanceolate or oblong, 5- 

 nerved, the larger ones 2 to 4 in. long, the upper and lower ones much 

 smaller. Flowers showy, blue or purplish. Calyx more or less winged on 

 the angles ; lobes 4, very pointed. Corolla varying much in size, but the 

 tube usually shorter than the sepals ; the lobes ovate, acute, or scarcely ob- 

 tuse, full \ in. long. Capsule nearly globulai-. — E. helium, Hance in Walp. 

 Ann. iii. 77. E. Horsfeldlauim, Miq. Fl. Ned. Lid. ii. 556. 



On the top of Mounts Victoria and Gough, Champion, Hance, Wilford, Wright. Com- 

 mon in northern and eastern India, and received also from Java, Simiatra, and the Phihp- 

 pines. 



Order LXXIV. BORAGINB^. 



Sepals 5 or rarely 4, usually more or less united in a lobed or toothed 

 calyx. Corolla regular or nearly so, 5 -lobed, usually imbricate in the bud. 

 Stamens 3, alternating with the lobes of the corolla and inserted in the tube. 

 Ovary 4-celled and often deeply 4-lobed (consisting of two 2-celled carpels), 

 with'l ovule in each cell. Styla inserted between the lobes of the ovary or 

 terminal where the ovary is entire, simple, entire or once or twice bifid at the 

 top. Fruit either a 4-seeded tlrupe or berry, or divisible into 2 or 4, or con- 

 sisting of 4 distinct small i -seeded nuts, having the appearance of mikctl 



