270 FLORA OF TASMANIA. [Gentianea. 
bus whip-like branches rooting when they reach the ground. — Stems 2 inches in diameter ; inner bark silky and 
very strong, useful as a substitute for hemp. Leaves opposite, glabrous, petiolate, lanceolate, acuminate, 2-3 inches 
long, very dark green. Flowers \ inch long, dull yellow, in many-flowered cymes. Fruit 3 inches long, ripening 
at the same time as the flowers of the following season open. (Named in honour of Israel Lyons, a Cambridge 
collector of plants.) 
1. Lyonsia straminea (Br. Prodr. 466) ; foliis lanceolatis longe acuminatis, cymis pubescentibus. 
—Alph. DC. Prodr. viii. 401. {Gunn, 44.) 
Hab. Northern parts of the Island, in deep, shaded ravines, etc. ; Circular Head and Launceston, 
Gunn.—(FL Dec.) 
Distrib. South-eastern Australia. 
Nat. Ord. LII. GENTIANE^E. 
Seven* genera of this Order have been found in Australia and Tasmania, namely, Gentiana, Erythrm, 
Sebaa, and Orthostemon, together with the somewhat anomalous genera Villarsia, LhnnaDthemi'n), and 
Liparopfyllum. Of these none except the last are peculiar to Australia, and they together include about 
a dozen species. 
Gen. I. SEB^A, Soland. 
Calyx 4-5-partitus; lobis carinatis v. alatis. Corolla 4-5 -fida, marcescens. Stamina exserta. An- 
thera longitudinaliter dehiscentes, deftoratse subtortse, apice calloso recurvo. Stigmata 2. Capsula valvse 
margine inflexse. Semina plurima, axi centrali libero affixa.— Herbee annua?; caulibus simpHcw&ctUi*. 
Besides the Tasmanian S. ovata, there is one Australian species of this genus, the S. albidi/fora, Mueller, of 
Victoria, and about a dozen others, all natives of South Africa.— The S. ovata is a slender, annual herb, with an 
erect, four-angled stem, 2-6 inches high, simple or dichotomously branched above, with a flower placed at each 
fork. Leaves i inch long, sessile, very broadly ovate, blunt. Flowers few, clustered at the tops of the branches, £ 
inch long, yellow. Calyx-lohes ovato-lanceolate, acuminate, keeled. Corolla with a straight tube, and five oblong 
blunt lobes, that are twisted after the flower is closed. Stamens five, with very short filaments, placed at the mouth 
of the corolla. Antliers slightly twisted after flowering. Ovary two-celled, with two straight styles and small 
capitate stigmas. Capsule of two linear, concave, pointed valves, that separate from a central axis, bearing nume- 
rous seeds. (Named in memory of Albert Seba, an Amsterdam apothecary and author.) 
1. Sebaea ovata (Br. Prodr. 452) ; caule simplici superne ramoso gracili 4-gono, foliis late ovatis 
obtusis, calycis lobis carinatis, floribus 5-fidis. — DC. Prodr. ix. 53; Fl. N. Zeal. i. 172. Exacum ovatum, 
Lab. Nov. IIoll, i. 38. t. 52. {Gunn, 718.) 
Hab. Common in pasture-lands at Circular Head and Launceston, Lawrence, Gunn ; Port Arthur, 
Backhouse.— (Fl. Nov.) 
Distrib. New South Wales, Victoria, and Swan Eiver ; New Zealand. 
Gen. II. ERYTHILEA, Renealm. 
Calyx 4-5-fidus. Corolla infundibuliformis, limbo supra capsulam marcescente. Stamina 4-5, an- 
* Ophelia has also been regarded as Australian, from Ceylon specimens of 0. Zeylanica having been erroneously 
ticketed as from King George's Sound, and described as 0. Baxteri. The fimbriated scale, which is accurately de- 
scribed by Grisebach in X>e Candolle's 'Prodromus' as covering the nectarial pits of O. Baxteri, is present also in 
0. Zeylanica, though not alluded to in that work. 
