Molhgo.} Lxix. FicoiDEj!. (C. B. Clai:ke.) 663 



From the base of the Eastebk Himalata to Cetlok and Btjbua ; common. 

 /No example from North-West India, the Punjab or Scinde.)— Distbib. Tropical Africa 

 and Aiistralia. 



Stem branching, diffuse, leafy. Leaves y-l in., usually -whorled, spathulate lan- 

 ceolate or elliptic'; petiole 0-J in. Pedicels ^ in. Sepals ^-^ in., oblong, margins 

 often membranous. ^q,mem 5-10. Stigmas 3, minute. Capsule ellipsoid, a little 

 shorter than the sepals. Seeds many, covered with raised tubercular points, the 

 appendage sometimes comprises a second, yet more minute, bristle. 



** Seeds not appeindaged, it^loreseence in terminal cymes or racemes, 



3. 9K. Strlcta, Linn. ; DC. Prodr. i. 391 ; p:labrou8, sterna much 

 lianched leafy, seeds covered with raised tubercular points. Wall. Cat. 649 ; 



W. Sf A. Prodr. 44; Dalz. ^ Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 16; Kurz in Jmm. As. Soc. 

 1877, pt. ii. 111. M. triphylla. Lour. Fl. Cochme. 79 ; DC. Prodr. i. 392 ; 

 Jtoxb. Sort. Bang. 9, Fl. Ind. i. 360 ; Wall. Cat. 651 ; W. ^ A. Prodr. 4A. 

 M. Linkii, Seringe in DC. I. c. M. pentaphylla, Idnn, ; DC. Prodr. i, 391 : 

 Soxb. Z.e.; Wcdl. Cat. 650; W, Sf A. Prodr. 44; Dalz. ^ Cfibs. I.e. Phar- 

 naceum striotum, triphyUum and pentaphyllum, Sipreng. 8yst. i. 949. — Eheede 



Mart. Mai. x. t. 26. 



"I 



Throughout India and Ceylon, very common. — ^Distbib. Eastward to Malacca, 

 China, Japan, Fiji. 



Often a foot high. Leaves f-1^ in., whorled or opposite, varying from lanceolate 

 acute to obovate obtuse, much narrowed at the base; petiole hence obscure. Cymes ^ 

 compound, the branches sometimes racemed so that the infloreseence becomes like 

 ib&i of M. distieha. Sepals ^ in., elliptic or round. iSftomms 3-5, filaments dilated. 

 Styles 3, short, linear. Capsule as long as the sepals, globose, many-seeded, the, 

 vails thin. Seeds dark chestnut-coloured ; embryo curled into three-quarters of a 

 complete circle, 



4. DI. Cervlana, Seringe in DC. Prodr. i. 392 ; glabrous, branched, cau- 

 fine leaves linear-oblong, seeds reticulated without tubercular raised points. 

 Wall. Cat. 7128 ; W.^A. Prodr. 44; Boiss. Fl. Orient, i. 756. M. umbellata, 

 Seringe I. c. Phamaceum Cerviana, Imn. ; Lamk. HI. t. 214. 



From the Pdotab to Cbti^n, in the hotter drier parts of India ; not in Bengal. — 

 Distbib. Asia, Africa to the Cape, Australia. 



Stems 3-6 in., erect, usually several. Leaves J-| in., radical tufted spathulate or 

 obovate, eauline linear-oblong often 4-8 in a whorl, whence spring umbellately many 

 branches. Peduncles trichotomous or umbeUate-cymose. , Sepals yj in., elliptic or' 

 lonnd. Stamens 5. Styles very small. Capsule as long as the sepals, globose, 

 many-seeded. Seeds pink-chestnut or yellowish, covered with slightly elevated 

 oblong reticulations, blimtly ridged on the back ; embryo curled through less than a 

 semicircle. 



5. in, dlstlcba, Seringe in DC. Prodr. i. 392 ; glabrous, branched, cau- 

 Ene leaves lanceolate, seeds smootb. Wall. Cat. 652 ; W. Sr A. Prodr. 44 ; ' 



' ' \Ic. t. 3. Pharnaceum distichum, lAmn. Mamt. 221. 



South Deccan Peninstjia and Cetion. 



S<«m« often 12-18. in. Leaves |-1 in., usually whorled, tapering almost to the 

 • base. Flowers in cymes, the branches often ultimately prolonged as racemes. Sepals 

 ^ in., ovate. Stamens 5. Styles 3, short. Capsule as long as the sepals, globose 

 or shortly ellipsoid, many-seeded. Seeds obscurely reticulated, shining chestnut, 

 bluntly ridged on the back ; embryo curved through three-quarters of a eirde. — 

 Wight's figure represents this plant as hairy : it is glabrous or sometimes mierospopi- 

 cally puberulo-glandular. 



