GENUS 15. 



FIGWORT FAMILY. 



15. HYDROTRIDA Willd. 



Perennial aromatic succulent creeping herbs, usually pubescent. Stems terete. Leaves 

 opposite ; blades broadest below the middle, palmately nerved, entire or shallowly toothed, 

 punctate, partly clasping. Flowers solitary on short axillary peduncles. Calyx subtended 

 by 2 small bractlets. Sepals nearly distinct, the outer ones cordate, the upper one broadest. 

 Corolla blue or white, manifestly 2-lipped, the upper lip merely notched. Hypogynous disk 

 present. Stamens 4, included ; filaments adnate to near the throat of the corolla-tube. Cap- 

 sule ovoid to conic, septicidally dehiscent, the valves cleft. Seeds numerous. [Name 

 unexplained.] 



About 8 species, of the southeastern United States, the West Indies and South America. Type 

 species: Herpestis obovata Poepp. (See Linnaea 5 : 107.) 



i. Hydrotrida caroliniana (Walt.) Small. 

 Blue Hedge-Hyssop. Fig. 3783. 



Obolaria caroliniana Walt. Fl. Car. 166. 1788. 

 Monniera amplexicaulis Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2 : 22. 1803. 

 Herpestis ample.ricitlis Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 418. 1814. 

 M. caroliniana Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 463. 1891. 

 Septilia caroliniana Small, Fl. SE. U. S. 1064. 1903. 



Perennial by stolons, more or less pubescent, fleshy; 

 stems creeping and ascending, rooting at the lower 

 nodes, 6'-2 long, simple, or sparingly branched, 

 leafy. Leaves ovate to oval, sessile and clasping by 

 a subcordate base, obtuse at the apex, parallel-veined, 

 punctate, entire, the margins ciliolate or naked; pe- 

 duncles shorter than the leaves ; usually shorter 

 than the calyx; upper calyx-segment ovate, cordate; 

 flowers blue, 4" -5" long, ephemeral; disk 10-12- 

 toothed ; stamens approximate in pairs. 



In wet pine barrens, New Jersey to Florida and 

 Louisiana. June Oct. 



16. MECARDONIA R. & P. Syst. 164. 1798. 



Perennial relatively rigid herbs, with 4-angled erect or diffuse, but rarely creeping stems. 

 Leaves opposite ; blades toothed, narrowed at the base, pinnately nerved. Flowers solitary 

 on slender axillary peduncles subtended by two small bractlets. Calyx not subtended by bract- 

 lets; sepals 5, unequal, the upper one broadest; corolla white, purple or yellow, 2-lipped, the 

 upper lip notched Stamens adnate to near the corolla-throat. Hypogynous disk wanting. 

 Stigma 2-lobed. Capsule septicidal, the valves cleft. Seeds numerous. [Named in honor of 

 Anton Meca y Cardona, a founder of the botanical garden at Barcelona.] 



About 10 species, natives of warm and tropical America. Besides the following, some 4 others 

 inhabit the southeastern United States. Type species : Mecardonia ovata R. & P. 



i. Mecardonia acuminata (Walt.) Small. Purple Hedge-Hyssop. Fig. 3784. 



Gratiola acuminata Walt. Fl. Car. 61. 1788. 

 Matourea nigrescens Benth. Comp. Bot. Mag. 1 : 173. 



1835. 

 Herpestis nigrescens Benth. Comp. Bot. Mag. 2 : 56. 



1836. 



Monniera acuminata Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 463. 1891. 

 Mecardonia acuminata Small, Fl. SE. U. S. 1065. 



1903. 



Perennial, glabrous ; stem erect, branched above, 

 i-2 high, very leafy. Leaves oblong or oblong- 

 1 anceolate, serrate, at least above the middle, 

 short-petioled or sessile, obtuse or acute at the 

 apex, narrowed or somewhat cuneate at the base, 

 i '-2' long, faintly veined ; peduncles in alternate 

 and opposite axils, ascending, in fruit longer than 

 the leaves, not bracteolate at the summit ; flowers 

 5"-6" long, purple or purplish ; upper calyx-seg- 

 ment lanceolate, acute ; corolla 2-lipped, the lower 

 lip longer than the upper; stamens approximate 

 in pairs ; capsule oblong, 4-valved, 3"-4" high, 

 about equalling the calyx. 



In wet soil, Maryland to Florida, Missouri and 

 Texas, mostly near the coast. Plant blackening in 

 drying. June-Sept. 



