GENTIANE.E 237 



Swertia corymbosa, Wight. 



Hypocotyl scarcely appearing above the soil. 



Cotyledons triangular-ovate, obtuse, entire, subtruncate at the 

 base, petiolate, glabrous, green, one-nerved ; petioles short, flat, 

 shallowly channelled above. 



Stem erect, square, glabrous, herbaceous ; 1st and 2nd (sometimes 

 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th) internodes undeveloped, later ones con- 

 siderably elongated. 



Leaves simple, entire, cauline or radical, decussate, exstipulate ; 

 radical ones on rather long petioles, the cauline, sessile ; oval-oblong, 

 obtuse, glabrous, green, trinerved ; petioles flat, considerably chan- 

 nelled on the upper face. 



First and second pairs ovate-elliptic. 



Third to fifth pairs broadly oval. 



POLEMONIACE.E. 



Benth. et Hook. Gen. PL ii. 820. 



Fruit and Seed. The ovary is superior and consists of three 

 carpels united to form three cells with axile placentas ; but a 

 dimerous ovary occurs in some species of Collomia and other 

 genera. There are two or more ovules in each cell, but they 

 are rarely numerous, inserted by the middle on axile placentas 

 and amphitropous. The fruit is capsular and dehisces loculi- 

 cidally, rarely septicidally as in Cobsea scandens and other 

 species of that genus. In these the placentas are flat and of 

 great width and thickness ; but in other cases the valves burst 

 away carrying more or less of the septa and placentas on their 

 middle. The seeds are ovoid, angled or dorsally flattened. 

 The testa is sometimes developed into a wing at the margin, or 

 in other cases covered with mucilage sometimes growing out 

 into spiral tubes. The endosperm is copious and fleshy, or thick 

 and cartilaginous or reduced to a very thin layer. The embryo 

 is straight and axile, rarely one half shorter than the endosperm, 

 with flat and generally rather broad cotyledons, and a short 

 inferior radicle. 



The three cells of the ovary of Collomia coccinea contain 

 but a single ovule each, although other species have numerous 



