298 Rttbiacece. \Dentella. 



beneath, undulate, rather thick, bright light green, paler 

 beneath, with the prominent- veins pink, petiole very short, 

 pubescent, stip. barely \ in., linear-lanceolate, acute, con- 

 duplicate, sometimes bifid ; fl. sessile or nearly so, very 

 numerous, rather close on the branches of dense pubescent, 

 pyramidal terminal panicles 6-12 in. long, bracts small, seta- 

 ceous ; cal. glabrous or nearly, segm. acute ; cor.-tube about 

 -g- in., hairy within ; capsule capped with cal.-segm., splitting 

 from above loculicidally about half way down. 



Var. )3, zeylanica, Hk.f. in Fl. B. Ind., I. c. 



L. nearly glabrous ; fl. pedicellate, distant, panicles lax, 

 drooping ; cor.-tube longer. 



Open places in the moist region from sea-level up to all elevations ; very 

 common. Var. /3, rare. Fl. Feb., March ; white. 



Also in Peninsular India. 



The young leaves are a delicate purplish-pink. The calyx is usually 

 glabrous or nearly so in Ceylon. Neither of the figures quoted are 

 characteristic of this very common plant, which, curiously, does not seem 

 to have been seen by Hermann. 



Wood rather heavy, hard, strong, brownish-red. 



8. DENTXiLLA, Forst. 



A small prostrate annual, fl. solitary, axillary ; cal.-limb 

 tubular, segm. 5 ; cor. funnel-shaped, lobes 5, short, toothed 

 on each side, valvate ; stam. 5, inserted low down in tube, 

 included ; ov. globose, 2-celled, with numerous ovules on large 

 placentas, style very short, stigmas 2, long, filiform ; fruit 

 small, globular, dry, indehiscent, 2-celled ; seeds numerous, 

 minute, angular. — Monotypic. 



D. repens, Forst. Char. Gen. 26 (1776). 



Thw. Enum. 144. C. P. 1683. 



Fl. B. Ind. iii. 42. Rumph. Herb. Amb. v. t. 170, f. 4 (poor). 



A slender prostrate herb, stems long, slender, much 

 branched, rooting at the nodes ; 1. very small, f in. at most, 

 lanceolate or subspathulate, tapering to base, acute, glabrous 

 or with a few bristly hairs on margin, petiole obscure, stip. 

 truncate, membranous ; fl. solitary often in the forks of the 

 stem, nearly sessile, cal.-limb persistent, segm. very acuminate; 

 cor.-lobes ovate, acute, with a tooth on each side ; fil. very 

 short; fruit about §-in., crowned by large persistent cal.-limb, 

 densely villous with coarse hair. 



Low country, a weed in moist places ; rather rare. Colombo ; Hara- 

 gama; Peradeniya. Fl. Aug., Sept.; white. 



Throughout the Tropics of Asia, Polynesia, and N. Australia. 



