Ammannia.] lxi. lytheacej!. (0. B. Clarke.) 667 



DC. Prodr. iu. 79; W.^ A. Prodr. 306 ; Wall. Cat. 2095 ; Wight Ic. t. 258 ; 

 Kurz in Jowm. As. Soe. 1877, pt. ii. 85. A. latifolia, Wall. Cat. 2096, partly, 

 A. Bubspicata, Benth. in Hook. Lond. Jowm. Sot. i. 484. Ameletia rotundi- 

 folia, JDalz. Sf Oibs. Bomb. Fl. 96. A. subspicata, Benth. in Hook. Kew Journ. 

 Bot. iv. 81. 



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

 lower mountains ; not received from Ceylon. — Distbib. China, Pormosa. 



Eootingand creeping extensively so as often to form large patches in moist turf: 

 stems usually 4-6 in., roundish and leafy. Leaves \ in. diam., opposite, sessile or 

 shortly petioled, nerved, approximate below becoming distant towards the spikes. 

 Flower-spikes dense, pedunculate, often 3 sometimes one only, sometimes panicled ; 

 floral leaf one to each flower, ovate or oblong, bracteiform, bracteoles or most 

 minute. Calyx-tube campanulate, not elongate ; teeth 4, acute, triangular, without 

 interjected folds. Petals i, obovate, twice the length of the calyx-teeth, bright 

 rose. Capsule ellipsoid, a little longer than broad. Seeds brtwn-yellow, ellipsoid, 

 peltate. — In this species, in A. jlorUmiida below, and probably in others, the flowers 

 are dimorphic ; one kind has the stamens included and the style very long-exserted, 

 the other kind has the stamens long-exserted and the style short: these are 

 doubtless reciprocally fertile in the manner discovered by Mr. Darwin for Lythrum 

 SaHcaria. No stress must be laid on the descriptions of the length of the style in 

 this genus. 



4. A. tenuis, C. B. Clarke ; leaves opposite ovate or elliptic, flowers ses- 

 sile close-packed in terminal spikes, capsule 2-valved. Ameletia tenius, Wight 

 Ic. t. 257 ; Dalz. ^ Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 96. 



Central India from Banda to the CoijCAN and Bbhae. East Bengal ; Griffith 

 No. 2310. 



Erect, or but shortly creeping at the base ; varying from simple stems 3-4 in. to 

 very compound stems 8-10 in. Leaves J-J in., sessile or nearly so, often acute. 

 Flower-spikes dense, on filiform peduncles ; floral leaf one to each flower, oblong or 

 lanceolate, bracteoles lanceolate, exceeding half the- length of the calyx. Galyx- 

 tube campanulate, much more elongate than that of A. rotundifoUa ; teeth 4, 

 acute, without interjected folds. Petals 4, obovate, not much, longer than the 

 calyx-teeth. Capsule ellipsoid, much longer than- broad. Seeds brown-yeUow, el- 

 liptic, peltate. 



6. A. floribunda, C. B. Clarke; leaves alternate, upper nairow-oblorig 

 or linear, flowers sessile close packed in terminal spikes, capsule 2-valved. Ame- 

 letia floribunda, Wight III. 206, not good and the reference to the figure wrong ; 

 Book. Ic. PI. t. 826 ; Dak. Sf Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 96. Nimmonia floribunda, Wight 

 in Madras Journ. of Science vi. 34,. t. 20. 



Mahableshwur Hills, Bombay ; Law, Stocks. 



Erect or but shortly creeping at the base ; stems often much branched, 8-10 in. 

 Lower leaves 1-2 in., broad-oblong, obtuse, sessile, base broad, upper leaves \-\ in., 

 linear or narrow-oblong. Flower-s;^kes Aense on filiform peduncles; fioral leaf one 

 to each flower, oblong or lanceolate ; bracteoles lanceolate, exceeding habf the length 

 of the calyx. Calyx-tube campanulate, elongate, like that of A. tenuis ; teeth 4, 

 acute, without interjected folds. Petals 4, obovate, nearly twice the calyx-teeth, 

 bright rose. Capsule ellipsoid, much longer than broad. Seeds brown-yellow, el- 

 .liptic, peltate. — Very closely allied to the preceding species. 



6. A. Rotala, Jl Muell. Fragm. Wi. IQB ; leaves in whorls of 3-6 linear, 

 flowers sessile axillary, capsule 3-valved. Benth. Fl. Austral, iii. 295. Kotala 

 TertjciUaris, Unn. ; DC. Prodr. iii. 76 ; Wall.. Cat. 6321; W. Sr A. Prodr. 303; 



