352 XCII. SCROPHULARIACEiE (HEMSLEY AND SKAN). [LimOSella. 



32. LIMOSELLA, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. 958. 



Calyx campanulate, 5-toothecl. Corolla-tube short, subrotate-cam- 

 panulate ; limb 5-fid, spreading ; lobes rounded or ovate-oblong, 

 imbricate, subequal. Stamens 4, affixed to the corolla-tube, usually 

 shortly exserted ; filaments filiform ; anthers 1 -celled by confluence. 

 Ovary shortly 2-celled at the base, the septum disappearing above ; 

 style short, incurved and thickened at the apex ; ovules many. Capsule 

 subindehiscent or at length 2-valved ; valves entire. Seeds small, 

 ovoid striate, somewhat rugose. — Small crespitose creeping or floating 

 glabrous herbs, stemless or with stolon-like stems. Leaves radical or 

 fascicled at the nodes, rarely alternate on some of the branches ; petiole 

 long ; blade linear like the petiole or oblong-ovate or spathulate. 

 Peduncles axillary, often shorter than the leaves, ebracteate. Flowers 

 lilac, white or pale rose, usually small. 



Species 6 or 7, 2 of which are widely distributed in all temperate regions ; 3 are 

 limited to Tropical and South Africa, and 1 to Australia. 

 Corolla-lobes distinctly shorter than the calyx. 



Very slender; blade of the leaf up to f in. long; 



peduncles 1-12 lin. long 1. L. aqiiatica. 



Stouter ; blade of the leaf up to If in. long ; 



peduncles \-1\ in. long 2. L. maior. 



Corolla-lobes as long or nearly as long as the calyx . 3. L. capensii. 



1. L. aquatica, Linn. Sp. PI. ed. i. 631. A small tufted glabrous 

 annual aquatic or marsh herb, often producing stolons bearing one or 

 more tufts of leaves and rooting at every tuft, sometimes with branches 

 having alternate leaves. Leaves usually in radical tufts, erect, suberect 

 or floating, very variable in size and shape, narrowly spathulate to 

 broadly oblong, sometimes linear ; blade li-9 lin. long, |— 5 lin. broad, 

 obtuse, entire; petiole -J-4 in. long, usually very slender. Flowers 

 axillary, solitary; peduncles 1-12 lin. long, erect or suberect in flower, 

 often deflexed in fruit. Calyx about 1 Tin. long ; teeth broader than 

 long, minutely apiculate. Corolla lilac, white or pale rose, slightly 

 longer than the calyx ; lobes spreading, ovate-oblong, about § lin. long. 

 Capsule subglobose, about 1 J li* 1 - m diam. — Benth. in DC. Prodr. x. 

 42b; A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss, ii. 122; Engl. Hochgebirgsfl. Trop. 

 Afr. 378 ; Hiern in Dyer, Fl. Cap. iv. ii: 356, with synonymy ; Schweinf . 

 Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 99 ; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. iv. 288 ; Reichb. Ic. FL 

 Germ. xx. t. 1722, fig. 1. 



Upper Guinea. Cameroons : Cameroon Mountain, 9800-10800 ft., Mann. 



Nile Land. Abyssinia: Tigre ; Adowa, Schimper, 1063! Samen; Mount 

 Silke, Schimper, 1302 ! Mount Bachit, Schimper, 757 ! and without precise locality, 

 Schimper ! 



Cosmopolitan. 



Var. tenuifolia, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. ii. 334. Stolons usually absent. Leaves 

 narrowly linear or subulate, terete or somewhat compressed, without dilated blade. — 

 Journ. Linn.Soc. vi. 19 ; Hiern in Journ. Bot. 1901, 336, t. 426, fig. C,with synonymy, 

 and in Dyer, Fl. Cap. iv. ii. 357. L. tenuifolia, Wolf, ex Hoffm. Deutschl. Fl. ed. 2, 

 i. II. 29 ; Beoth. in DC. Prodr. x. 427. 



