272 FicoidecE. \Mollugo. 



filiform ped., arranged in lax, corymbose, terminal cymes ; 

 sep. rotundate-oval, obtuse; capsule globose, walls very thin, 

 seeds numerous, closely covered with minute raised tubercles. 



Low country, especially in the dry region ; common. Fl. June, July; 

 white. 



Throughout India, Malaya, China, Japan, &c. 



M. pentaphylla is the older by nine years of Linnseus's two names, and 

 is therefore here adopted. M. stricta has narrower leaves, not at all 

 obovate, and is kept up as separate by Thw. 



Hermann erroneously gives the S. name ' Wisnagarandi ' ( = ' Vis- 

 nukiranti ' which belongs to Evolvulus) for this. 



4. XIX. Cerviana, Ser. in DC. Prod. i. 392 (1824). Fatpada- 

 kam, T. 



Pharnaceum triflorum, Moon Cat. 23. Thw. Enum. 24. C. P. 1092. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 663. Lam. 111. t. 214, f. 1. Pluk. Phyt. t. 332, f. 1 

 (good). 



Annual, with very numerous, erect, very slender stems 

 5-8 in. high, branches umbellate, nodes thickened; 1. 2-6 or 

 more in a whorl, |-§in., linear, very narrow, apiculate ; fl. 

 numerous, on long, stiff filiform ped., usually in 3's at end of 

 long filiform axillary and terminal peduncles; sep. oval- 

 oblong, obtuse, with membranous margins; seeds quite smooth, 

 red-brown. 



Dry region; rather common. Jaffna and Kalpitiya (Gardner). 



Also in dry districts of India and rest of Asia, Africa, and Australia. 



Much used as a medicine in fever. 



5. XtX. disticha, Ser. in DC. Prod. i. 392 (1824). 



Burm. Thes. 161. Pharnaceum distichum, L., Moon Cat. 23. Thw. 

 Enum. 24. C. P. 1094. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 663. Burm. Thes. t. 71, fig. 2. Wight, Ic. t. 3 (?). 



Stem solitary, erect, angular, finely glandular-pubescent, 

 dichotomous with ascending branches; 1. 3-6 in. a whorl, 

 f-i in., lanceolate-linear, tapering to base, subacute, glabrous, 

 petiole obscure; fl. on short glandular-pubescent ped., arranged 

 in corymbose cymes which afterwards lengthen out into stiff 

 elongated racemes with distant fl.; sep. oval, obtuse, mem- 

 branous ; capsule broadly ovoid, seeds very nearly smooth, 

 shining, red-brown. 



Near the seacoast ; rare. Colombo and Jaffna (Gardner). Fl. white. 



Also in S. India. 



Wight's figure represents a large hairy plant, unlike Ceylon examples, 

 and Burmann's is not very characteristic. Thw. says this is ' not un- 

 common ' on the coast, but there are no specimens collected by him 

 among the C. P. plants. 



6. XtX. nudicaulis, Lam. Encycl. iv. 234 (1796). 

 Thw. Enum. 24. Burm. Thes. 14. C. P. 2809. 

 Fl. B. Ind. ii. 664. Burm. Thes. t. 8, lower fig. 



