LYTHRACEAE. 299 



1. Ammannia latifolia L. Sp. PI. 119. 1753. 



Erect, 2-11 dm. high, the branches nearly erect, or ascending. Leaves 

 linear-lanceolate or linear-oblong, 2-7 cm. long, 2-10 mm. wide, acute or blunt 

 at the apex, sessile, clasping the stem by an auricled base; flowers minute, 

 green, sessile and solitary or few together in the axils; calyx about 2 mm. 

 long; petals none; style short; capsule about 4 mm. in diameter^ enclosed 

 by the calyx. 



Borders of fresh-water holes and marshes, Great Bahama, Andros, New Provi- 

 dence, Eleuthera, Cat Island, Watling's, Long Island, Acklin's, Crooked Island, North 

 Caicos and Inagua : Florida ; the West Indies ; Mexico and continental tropical 

 America. AMMANNIA. 



2. LAWSONIA L. Sp. PL 349. 1753. 



A glabrous shrub, the terete branches sometimes spinescent, the small 

 leaves opposite and entire, the numerous small white flowers corymbose. 

 Calyx turbinate, 4-angled, the 4 lobes spreading. Petals 4, sessile. Stamens 

 8, borne near the base of the calyx-tube; filaments subulate; anthers oblong. 

 Ovary subglobose, 4-celled; ovules numerous; style filiform; stigma capitate. 

 Capsule subglobose, 4-celled, irregularly rupturing, many-seeded. Seeds 4- 

 angled, cuneate, truncate; cotyledons orbicular. [Commemorates Isaac Law- 

 son, English physician and botanist, died 1747.] A monotypic genus. 



1. Lawsonia inermis L. Sp. PI. 349. 1753. 



Lawsonia alia Lam. Encycl. 3: 106. 1789. 



A shrub 5 m. high or less, with slender gray branches, unarmed or spiny. 

 Leaves thin, elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, 1-4.5 em. long, acute, obtuse or 

 abruptly acuminate at the apex, narrowed or cuneate at the base, the short 

 petioles slender; corymbs several-many-flowered, forming a terminal panicle; 

 pedicels slender, scarcely longer than the flowers; calyx-lobes ovate, acute, 

 2-3 mm. long; petals somewhat longer than the calyx-lobes; stamens longer 

 than the petals or equalling them; capsules about 6 mm. in diameter. 



Scrub-lands, spontaneous after cultivation, Inagua near Matthew Town : 

 spontaneous in many localities throughout the West Indies, Mexico, and tropical 

 continental America. Native of the Orient. HENNA PLANT. 



3. PARSONSIA P. Br.; Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 234. 1763. 

 [CUPHEA P. Br.; Adans. loc. cit. Hyponym. 1763.] 



Herbs (some shrubs in tropical regions), with opposite or verticillate 

 leaves. Flowers axillary, irregular and unsymmetrical. Calyx-tube elongated, 

 12-ribbed, gibbous or spurred at the base, oblique at the mouth, with 6 pri- 

 mary teeth and usually as many accessory ones. Petals 6, unequal. Stamens 

 6-11, inserted on the throat of the calyx, unequal; filaments short. Ovary 

 with a curved gland at its base, unequally 2-celled; style slender; stigma 2- 

 lobed. Capsule oblong, 1-celled, laterally dehiscent. Seeds flattened. [In 

 honor of James Parsons, M. D., a Scotch botanist.] About 180 species, na- 

 tives of America. Type species: Lythrum Parsonsia L. 



