MiTCHELLA. RUBIACEyE. 315 



whitish longitudinal line, of a firm and somewhat coriaceous texture : petiole shorter than the 

 lamina. Flowers about half an inch long, of two kinds in different plants : one kind with the 

 stamens conspicuously exserted, and the style included ; the other with the stamens included 

 and the style exserted : the parts usually in fours, but not unfrequently in fives, and some- 

 times in sixes. Berries about one-third of an inch in diameter, crowned with the persistent 

 teeth of 2 calyces, edible but insipid, remaining through the winter and following spring. 



Moist woods, about the roots of trees ; common. Fl. June. Fr. September. The plant 

 turns black in drying. 



Tribe III. HEDYOTIDEJE. Cham. ^ Schlecht 



Fruit capsular, 2-celled, usually loculicidal ; the cells several- or many -seeded. Seeds 

 wingless. Albumen fleshy. Estivation of the corolla mostly imbricate or contorted. — 

 Herbs or shrubs. Stipules between the petioles, either one or two on each side, or 

 frequently united with the petioles into a membranaceous sheath, which is often fringed 

 with bristles. 



4. HEDYOTIS. Linn. ; A. Richard, Rubiac. in mem. soc. hist. Par 5. p. 133; Wight 

 4" Arn. prodr. fl. Ind. Or. 1. p. 405 ; Endl. gen. 3240. BLUETS. 



Hedyotis, Hodstonia and Oldenlandia, Lirm. Anotis, &c. DC. 

 [ From the Greek, Kedys, sweet, and ous (otos), an ear; the leaves resembling the ears of some animals.] 



Calyx-tube ovate or globose ; the limb 4-toothed. Corolla furmel-form, salver-form or rotate, 

 4-lobed ; the lobes imbricate in aestivation. Stamens 4, inserted either into the throat or 

 towards the base of the tube. Stigma usually 2-cIeft or 2-lobed. Capsule globose, ovoid 

 or obcordate, mostly coriaceous, the summit often free from and exserted beyond the calyx, 

 2-celled, open across the summit by loculicidal dehiscence, and at length the valves also 

 split at the top. Seeds few or numerous, on placentae which project into each cell ; the 

 testa pitted or reticulate. — Herbs or suffruticose plants. Stipules connate with the petiole, 

 entire, toothed, or sometimes fringed with bristles. Flowers axillary or terminal, solitary 

 or cymulose, or glomerate. Most of the species turn blackish in drying. 



^ 1. Corolla funnelform or salvtrform ; the tube much longer than the calyx-teeth: stamens in one 

 plant inserted in or near the throat of the corolla, and often exserted, and then the style included ; 

 in the other, the stamens inserted into the tube of the corolla near its base, and the style exserted : 

 capsule more or less free from the calyx towards the summit, with few (8 - 20) seeds in each 

 cell : seeds with a deep hollow on the face, pitted or reticulated. 



1. Hedyotis c^erulea. Hook. Common Bluets. Dwarf Risk. 



Annual or biennial, smooth ; stems numerous, erect or spreading, dichotomous ; leaves 

 oval-spatulate or oblanceolate , the radical and lower ones tapering at the base and somewhat 



40* 



