276 Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 



inferior, with 5 or occasionally many equal imbricate lobes. Corolla 

 gamopetalous, funnel-shaped cup-shaped campanulate or rotate ; 

 lobes 5, rarely many, imbricate or sometimes twisted. Stamens as 

 many as the corolla-lobes, alternate with them, usually fixed to the 

 base of the tube, exsert or included ; filaments filiform, sometimes 

 dilated or appendiculate at base ; anthers ovate, oblong or linear, dorsi- 

 fixed ; cells 2, parallel, dehiscing introrsely with longitudinal clefts. 

 Ovary superior, sometimes unilocular, with 2 free or parietal placentas, 

 sometimes more or less completely 2-celled with fleshy placentas adnate 

 to the septum ; styles either 1 filiform bifid or undivided, or 2 distinct 

 from the base ; stigmas terminal, small or capitate ; ovules 2 to many 

 in each cell. Capsule loculicidally, sometimes septicidally, bi-valved, 

 the placentas if parietal attached to the valves, if central remaining free. 

 Seeds usually oblong, globose or angular, 2 to many on each placenta ; 

 testa reticulate or wrinkled, rarely smooth ; albumen fleshy, embryo 

 small, erect ; cotyledons plano-convex or semi-terete. — Distrib. About 

 150 species, chiefly American, very few in the Old World. 



Hydkolea, Linn. 



Herbs or undershrubs. Leaves entire, alternate. Floivers blue, in 

 ■short terminal cymes or racemes. Calyx divided nearly to the base, 

 segments lanceolate. Corolla widely campanulate, sub-rotate, lobes 

 imbricate. Stamens 5, attached to the corolla-tube ; filaments filiform, 

 sometimes dilated at base; anthers sagittate. Ovary completely 

 2-celled, with fleshy placentas adnate to the dissepiment ; styles 2, 

 rarely 3, distinct, filiform ; stigmas capitellate ; ovules many in each 

 cell, multi-seriate. Capsule globose or ovoid, septicidal, usually 2-, 

 rarely 3- or i-valved. Seeds minute, irregularly wrinkled. — Distrib. 

 About 14 species, chiefly American, with one Chinese, one of tropical 

 Africa, and one of India and Malaya. 



Hydrolea zeylanica, Vahl Symb. II. 46 (1791). An annual herb ; 

 stems nearly glabrous below, glandular pubescent above, soft, somewhat 

 succulent, often rooting, always straggling. Leaves membranous ; 

 lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, attenuate above and below ; "5 to 2 in. 

 long, "2 to "5 in. broad ; glabrous or slightly pubescent ; petiole none or 

 very short and winged by the decurrent blade. Floiuers in racemes on 

 short lateral leafy branches. Calyx-lobes acute, glandular-pubescent, 

 3-nerved, about "3 in. long. Corolla-lobes ovate, -2 in. long, many-nerved, 

 blue. Stamens with sagittate, often twisted anthers, and filaments dilated 

 at base. Capsule shorter than the calyx-lobes, ovoid, 2-lobed ; placentas 

 ■central, adherent at their backs to the dissepiment. Seeds very many, 



