Spermacoce.] RuMaceCB, 37 1 



1. S. strict a, L.f. Suppl. Planf. 120 (178 1). 

 C. P. 1695 (part). 



Fl. B. Ind. iii. 200. 



Annual, stems slender, thickened at nodes, erect, quadran- 

 gular, slightly branched, angles slightly hispid, internodes 

 very long ; 1. 1-2 in., sessile but much tapering to narrow 

 base, linear, acute, mucronate, margin often revolute, more or 

 less scabrous on both sides, bristles of stip. numerous, long, 

 filiform; fl. few, clusters dense; cal.-segm. filiform, hairy; cor. 

 minute; capsule -| in., broadly ovoid, crowned with long cal.- 

 segm., hairy, dehiscent from above, each carpel dehiscing 

 ventrally; seed narrowly oblong, black, dull. 



Low country ; apparently rare. Colombo (Ferguson). Fl. August ; 

 white. 



Also in India and Trop. Asia and Africa generally. 

 Thwaites did not distinguish this from S. hispida. 



2. S. ocymoides, Burm.f. Fl. Ind. 34 (1768). 

 Borreria ocymoides, DC, Thw. Enum. 151. C. P. 1684. 

 Fl. B. Ind. iii. 200. Burm. f. Fl. Ind. t. 13, f. 1. 



Annual herb, stem slender, 6-12 in. high, branched at 

 base, quadrangular, glabrous or nearly so ; 1. sessile or shortly 

 petioled, \-\ in., oval, tapering at base, acute, nearly glabrous, 

 thin, stip. short, scarcely forming a cup, bristles long ; fl. very 

 small, cymes dense, globose ; cal.-segm. linear, apiculate, 

 nearly glabrous ; capsule very small, T V in., oblong-globose, 

 glabrous, thin, white, both carp, ventrally dehiscent ; seeds 

 black. 



Moist low country; rare. Kalutara (Moon); Galle (Gardner); 

 Colombo (Ferguson). 



Also in India, Malaya, Trop. Africa, and Mauritius. 

 Has the habit of Ammannia. I have not met with this. 



3. S. hispida, L. Sp. PI. 102 (1753). Hin-g-eta-kola, S. Yar, 

 Nattaichchuri, T. 



Herm. Mus. 3. Burm. Thes. 103. Fl. Zeyl. n. 62. Moon Cat. 10. 

 Thw. Enum. 151. C. P. 1695 (part), 1696. 

 Fl. B. Ind. iii. 200. Burm. Thes. t. 20, f. 3. 



Annual (sometimes perennial?), stems prostrate, long, 

 sharply quadrangular, roughly hairy on the angles, stiff, inter- 

 nodes generally long; 1. sessile, \-l in., oblong-oval, acute, 

 slightly pubescent on both sides, scabrous-ciliate on margin, 

 rather thick, veins inconspicuous, stip. short, membranous, 

 bristles few, long ; fl. few, within the stipular cup, bracts long, 

 filiform, hyaline; cal.-segm. twice as long as ov., linear, ciliate; 

 cor.-tube slender, lobes short, bristly on back ; capsule \ in., 

 oblong-ovoid, hairy, crowned with long cal.-segm., one carp. 



