•566 Lxr. LtTH&ACEj;. (C. B. Clarke.) ' [Ammannia. 



1. AZanXAlfMrXA, Zinn. 



Annual glabrous herbs growing in damp plftces ; branches often quadrangu- 

 lar. Leaves opposite and alternate, sometimes whorled, entire ; stipules 0.' 

 Flowers small, aiUlary, solitary and subsessile, or in small trichotomous cynieis ; 

 braoteoles usually 2. Calyx campanulate or tubiUar-campanulate, 3-5-toothed, 

 often with minute interposed teeth or folds. Petals 3-5 or 0, small, inserted 

 between the calyx-teeth. Stamens 2-8, inserted on the calyx-tube. Ovari/ 

 enclosed in the calyx-tube, 1-5-celled, the septa very thin often absorbed ; style 

 filiform or short, stigma capitate ; ovules very many, placentas axile. Capmle 

 membranous, globose or long-eEipsoid, enclosed in tiie calyx, 2-3-valved, or 

 irregularly breaking up or ciroumsciss. Seeds many, often nearly covering the 

 placenta which is often ultimately free central, small, smooth, round on the 

 back, raphe on the inner face, ellipsoid or nearly hemispheric. — Disteib. 

 Species 30, in the tropics and warm temperate zones of the whole world. 



STJBeKtnrs I. Rotala. Flowers axillary, solitary or in sessile spikes. 

 Capsule 2-4-valved. 



* Calyx in fruit campanulate, longer than hroad. 



1. A. peploides, Spreng. Syst.i. 444; cauline leaves elliptic nerves pro- 

 minent beneath, capsule 2-valved, seeds narrow-oblong subfalcate. Boiss. Fl. 

 Onent. ii. 742 ; Kurz in Journ. As. Soe. 1877, pt. ii. 84. A. nana, JRoxb. Fl. 

 Ind. i. 427, not of Wallich. A. repens, Hottl. ; DC. Prodr. iii. 80. Ameletia 

 indica, DC. Prodr. iii. 76 ; Wall. Cat. 2093 ; W. ^ A. Prodr. 303 ; Blume 

 Mus. Bot. ii. 136, t. 47 ; Ddlz. S; Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 96 : Wight Ic. t. 257. A. 

 elongata, Blume Mus. Bot. ii. 135. A. acutidens, Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. i. pt. i. 

 617. A. polystachya, Wall. Cat. 2094. A. latifolia, Wall. Cat. 2096, partly. 

 Peplis indica, Willd. iSp. PI. ii. 244. 



India ; common, in rice fields &c. throughout the plains and in ■warm places 

 in the lower mountains. — Distkib. Malaya to the Philippines and Canton ; Cabul and 

 Persia. 



Stems decumbent often rooting or erect, 3-12 in. high. Leaves opposite, larger on 

 the main stem, ^f in., elliptic, narrowed at the base, sometimes almost petioled. 

 Flowers often approximate in numerous sessile axillary spikes, solitary, sessile in the 

 axils of reduced floral leaves; bracteoles 2, minute, lanceolate: or flowers some- 

 times strictly axillary, distant. Calyx-tube long-campanulate, scarcely striate ; teeth 

 4, often pink, acute, triangular in fruit, accessory teeth obscure or 0. Petals 0, or i 

 small. Capsule ellipsoid, longer than broad. Seeds pink, somewhat angular, hilum 

 quite obscure. 



2. A. Xtitcliiei, C. B. Clarke; cauline leaves elliptic nerves not promi- 

 nent beneath, capsule 4r-valved, seeds nearly hemispheric. 



BE3.aAUM, in rice fields, Bitchie. 



Stems 6-12 in. rooting amongst floating weeds (Ritchie). Leaves opposite, 

 cauline ^-f in., elliptic; sessile. Flowers solitary, distant, lower distinctly pedicelled. 

 Calyx long-campanulate, truncate ; teeth 4, minute, hardly so large as the minute 

 interjected ones. Petals 4, minute, rose. Capsule ellipsoid, longer than broad, as 

 long as the calyx-tube. Seeds brown-yellow, elliptic, peltate. 



3. A. rotundlfolia, Ham. in Don Prodr. 220 ; leaves orbicular, flowers 

 sessile close-packed in terminal spikes, capsule 4rvalved. Boxb. Fl. Ind. i. 425 ; 



