Plants Collected in Paraguay. 123 



branched stem, terete below, linear leaves 1-2 cm. long, and crowded 

 and sessile or subsessile flowers. It is regarded as a variety of S. 

 Portulacastrum by Rohrbach in Mart. FI. Bras., xiv, pt. 2, 310. 



SesuTium Portulacastrum, L., Sp. PL, Ed. 2, 684. 



Asuncion (789). October. 



Succulent. Spreading on the ground 15-20 cm. Leaves linear 

 or spatulate, 1-2 cm. long. Flowers small, pedicellate, the interior 

 of the calyx lobes rose-colored. I found these little plants spring- 

 ing up in great numbers on the river-side where the land had been 

 overflowed in the winter freshet, and from which the waters had 

 receded. The bright rose-tinted perianth spreads wide open in the 

 sun. 



]9Iollugo Terticillata, L., Sp. PL, 89. 



Asuncion (186). November- January. 



This cosmopolitan plant is as abundant around Asuncion as it is 

 in cultivated grounds in North America. 



UMBELLIFERJE. 

 Hydrocotyle leucocepliala, C. and S., Linnsea, i, 364. 



Asuncion (100). November. 



A delicate plant, running over the ground under the shade of 

 larger plants and rooting at the nodes. Flowers white, very small, 

 waxy, in simple umbels, on long capillary peduncles. Stem, peti- 

 oles and leaves sparsely pilose. Leaves crenate or lobed, very vari- 

 able as to size, about 9-nerved. 



Hydrocotyle ranuuculoides, L., f. SuppL, 177. 



Asuncion (241). December. 



Common in miry places, pools, and rivulets, which form from 

 streams that run down into the Paraguay from the high banks 

 around Asuncion. Notable for its supposed medicinal virtues 

 among the herb doctors of Asuncion. Called by quacks Yerdolaga 

 palustre, or Herva do capitao, in Guarani Acaricoba and Caahay. 

 It is regarded as aperient and diuretic, and is employed for remov- 

 ing obstructions of the liver and bowels. Like thousands of the 

 vegetable nostrums of the Paraguayans, its reputation is far beyond 

 its real value. 



