S14 LX. MELiSTOMACEiE. (0. B. Clarke.) [^Osheehia. 



[With regard to the following generally accepted sections of OsheeHa founded pri- 

 marily on the 4-fld or 5-fid flowers it shoidd be premised that several Osbeckias whiA 

 have the flowers normally 4-fld carry also a few 5-fid flowers on the same plant ; and 

 that sometimes a strong plant may produce all or nearly all the flowers 5-fid. This 

 occurs eminently in O^mnita and in 0. cfupiUaris.^ 



Sect. I. Amblyantbera. Perianth normally 4-merous. Anthers not 

 beaked. Herbs or small shrubs. 



1. O. truncata, Bon ms. ; W.Sf A. Prodr. 322 ; hairs on the stem patenl^ 

 flowers capitate often with two or four leaves close under the head, bristles on 

 the apex of the ovary 16-20, fruit ^— | in. broad 8-ribbed ovoid-oblong. Wight 

 Ic. t. 875 ; Triana in Trans. lAnn. Soc. sxviii. 63. 0. muiaUs, Navd. in Ann. Sc. 

 Nat. Ser. 3. xiv. 56. 0. Leschenaultiana, Dalz. Sr Oibs. Bomb. Fl. 92. 0» 

 zeylanica, Steud. in Herb. Hohenack. No. 577, 



Throughout the Dbocan Peninstjia, alt. 0-4000 ft. ; extending plentifally to Chota 

 Nagpoke. East Bengal, Mudhopoor ; C. B. Clarke. 



Stems 4-16 in., annual, 4-angled. Leaves 1 in., elliptic, subacute, 3-nerved, hairy 

 on both surfaces, drying yellow ; petiole ^ in. Bracts ovate or oblong, glabrous oa 

 their backs, Calyx-tvhe and teeth with stalked stellate hairs ; teeth erect, subper- 

 sistent. Petals less than ^ in., purple. Capsule occasionally 5-celled. 



Vae. Kurzii ; plant scarcely 2 in. with very small leaves and flowers, capsule 

 ovoid ribs altogether obscure.^Parasnath Summit, Behar, alt. 4200 ft. ; Kurz. 



2. O. cupularls, Don ms.; W. Sr A. Prodr. 323 ; flowers subcapitate 

 often with two or four leaves close under the head sometimes more lax, bristles' 

 on the apex of the ovary very numerous, fruit rarely less than ^ in. broad 

 obscurely many-ribbed ovoid. Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3. xiv. 61 ; Triand 

 in Trans. Zinn. Soc. xxviii. 55. O. braehystemon, Naud. I. e. 57 and xiii. t. 7, 

 f. 1 ; Triana I. c. 63. O. truncata. Am. in Hook. Comp. Bot. Mag. ii. 308 j 

 Naud. I. c. 57. O. confertiflora, Naud. I. e. 59. O. Leschenaultiana, Wight Ic. 

 t. 996 ; Thwaites Enum. 104 partly ; not of DC. O. Wightiana, Benth. in- 

 Wall. Cat. 4074 {not in WaU. Cat. 4060). 



Hountains of the southern part of the Deccan Peninstjia and of Cetlon ; Wight 

 No. 1148 and 1095 (and No. 1093 with 4-fid and 5-fid flowers). Mysore; Lobb. 

 Bababoodun Hills ; Law. SUghins ; Sohenacier Jio. 96S (named 0, Lesohenaiiltia^), 

 (MEBGtfi ? Serb. Griffith). Ceylon ; Gardner. 



Annual and biennial, drying yellow. Stems 8-20 in., tetragonous, glaucous up- 

 wards, with simple ascending often closely-adpressed hairs. Leaves 1-2 in., elliptic, 

 subacute, 3- (or sub- 5-) nerved, hairy on both surfaces; petiole ^-J in. Bracts ovate 

 or oblong, glabrous on their backs. Cah/x-tube and teeth with stalked stellate hairs ; 

 teeth patent subpersistent. Petals f-| in., dark-pnpple or nearly white. 



Vae. erythrocephala, Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3. xiv. 58. 0. Leschenaultiana, 

 Thwaites Enum. 104. — Ceylon, alt. 6000 ft. ; Thwaites No. 1676 and 284, Gardiier^ 

 Walker. — Turns black in drying; stem below with deflexed hairs; stellate hairs 

 about the inflorescence a rufous-brown ; fruit sometimes large somewhat glaucous 

 and slightly produced at the vertex; flowers in this variety seem always 4-fid. — 

 Triana distinguishes (under the name 0. mpularis) "Wight's No. 1093 which has 

 sometimes 5-fid flowers, the stamens 8, 9 or 10, from Wights No. 1148 which he takes 

 as 0. braehystemon: but the two seem identical. Mr. Thwaites mates but one 

 species here. Triana arranges the main sections of Osbeckia according as the 

 flowers are 4-fid or 5-fid ; he thus places 0. cupidaris in the 5-fid section at a great 

 distance from 0. braehystemon ; then he says (under the head of 0. Lesehenaultiatta) 

 that 0. cupularis has 4-fid flowers. O. Leschenaultiana is the name generally found 

 in herbaria for this variable species, but Triana is right in saying that DC. meant by 

 O. Leschenaultiana a very different plant. 



