152 HYDROPHYLLACEiE. 



Order XCII. HYDROPHYLLACE^. 



Herbs, or rarely shrubs, with watery insi[)id juice, alternate or sometimes oppo- 

 site leaves, no stipules, mostly a scorpioid inflorescence in the manner of Borra- 

 ginacece, regular 5-merous o-androus flowers, with the stamens borne on the base 

 or lower part of the corolla alternate with its lobes, a 2-merous ovary, and the 

 two styles distinct or partly united (in Romanzoffia completely united into one) : 

 stigmas terminal. Ovules amphitropous or anatropous, from 4 to very many, 

 pendulous, or when numerous almost horizontal. Hypogynous annular disk at 

 the base of the ovary often conspicuous. Fruit a capsule, one-celled with 

 two parietal placentae, or incompletely 2-celled by the approximation or meeting 

 of the placentae (borne on senaisepta), or even completely 2-celled by their union 

 in the axis. Seeds with a close and usually reticulated or pitted testa, and a 

 small or slender embryo in cartilaginous or firm-fleshy albumen. Scorpioid cymes 

 sometimes complete, more commonly reduced to geminate or solitary false spikes 

 or racemes (which in description may be termed spikes or racemes) ; the pedi- 

 cels bractless. Calyx 5-parted, or of nearly distinct sepals. — Benth. in Linn. 

 Trans, xvii. 267 ; A.DC. Prodr. ix. 287 ; Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. ix.312, & Bot. 

 Calif, i. 501. 



Tribe I. HYDROPHYLLE^. Ovary and capsule strictly 1-celled, lined with a 

 pair of expanded, at first fleshy, at maturity thin and membranaceous placentae, 

 which form a lining to the pericarp, and enclose the 4 or more amphitropous 

 ovules and seeds. Calyx sometimes appendaged at the sinuses. Corolla mostly 

 convolute in the bud. Style more or less 2-cleft. Ovary hispid, at least at the 

 apex. Capsule globose, loculicidal, i. e. dehiscent by the dorsal sutures. Seeds 

 by abortion commonly fewer than the ovules, globular, or angled by mutual pres- 

 sure : albimien cartilaginous. 



* Stamens and style mostly conspicuously exserted : calyx nearly unchanged in fruit : 

 ro"bt perennial or biennial : leaves alternate. 



1. HYDROPHYLLUM. Calyx early open, with or without a small appendage at each 

 sinus. Corolla campanulate; the tube within bearing a linear longitudinal appendage 

 opposite each lobe, with infolded edges, forming a nectariferous groove. Filaments and 

 style long and filiform, the former bearded at the middle : anthers linear or oblong, in- 

 flexed in the bud. Seeds 1 to' 4 ; the ovules only 4. 



* * Stamens shorter than the corolla : calyx accrescent in fruit : root annual : lower and 

 sometimes all the leaves opposite. 



2. NEMOPHILA. Calyx with a reflexed appendage at each sinus. Corolla rotate or 

 approaching campanulate, usually longer than the calyx; the base within mostly with 10 

 appendages. Anthers usually sagittate-oblong. Ovules 4 to 20. Seeds commonly with 

 a deciduous or more persistent caruncle. 



3. ELLISIA. Calyx destitute of appendages at the sinuses, usually much enlarged 

 under the fruit. Corolla campanulate, shorter or little longer than the calyx ; the 

 internal appendages minute or obsolete ; lobes in eestivation either all convolute, or 

 one exterior, or rarely quincuncial. Anthers oval or oblong. Ovules 4 to 8. Seeds 

 not carunculate. 



Tribe II. PHACELIEiE. Ovary either strictly 1-celled or 2-celled by the meeting 

 of the linear or lanceolate placentae in the axis ; these separating in the loculicidal 

 dehiscence, and borne on the middle of the semiseptiferous valves, or sometimes 

 falling away. Calyx naked at the sinuses, deeply 5-parted. Corolla imbricated in 

 the bud. Style from 2-parted to (rarely) entire ; the branches at the apex or the 

 stigmas obscurely if at all thickened. Ovary mostly hispid or pubescent, at least 

 its apex. Albumen cartilaginous or firm-fleshy. 



