XVI. CAbYOPHYLLEyE. &6 



Tribe III. Polycarpos, — Sepals of Alsineie. FeUUs usually very small or none. Stamens 

 h or fewer, hijponynnus or slightly periinjmus. Style dnr/lc at the lias'e, with 2 or 3 branches or 

 minute teeth. Stipnles scarious or very minnte. 



Petals lobed. Style very short. Stipules minute 9. Dbymakia. 



Petals entire. Style short. Stipules scarious 10. Polycabpon. 



Petals entire or notched. Style elongated. Stipules and sepals scarious . .11. Polycarp^ea. 



1. GYPSOPHILA, Linn. 

 (From its preference for chalky soils.) 

 Calyx campanulate or turbinate-tubular, 5-toothed or 5-lobed, broadly 5- 

 nerved, membranous between the nerves. Petals 5, with a narrow claw, and 

 without any scale. Torus small. Stamens 10. Styles usually 2. Capsule 

 globular or ovoid, opening to the middle or lower dowp in 4 valves. Seeds 

 nearly reniform ; embryo curved round 'the albumen. ^Herbs, mostly glaucous, 

 sometimes glandular or hirsute. Flowers usually small, numerous, and 

 paniculate, or solitary in the forks of the stem. 



A genus litnited to the extratropical regions of the northern hemisphere in the Old World with 

 the exception of the following species. It is chiefly distinguished from Saponaria by the 

 calyx. — Bentlt. 



1. G. tubulosa (tubular), Bom. Diagn. PI. Or. i. 11 ; Benth. Fl. Austr, i. 

 155. A slender erect dichotomous annual, often not above 2 or 3in., but some- 

 times 8 to lOin. high, more or less viscid-pubescent, and often slightly hirsute. 

 Leaves linear-subulate, rarely attaining |^in. and often much shorter. Pedicels in 

 the forks, or sometimes appearing axillary from 1 branch only being developed, 4 

 to 8 lines long, erect or spreading. Calyx erect, H line long, narrower than in 

 most Gypsophilas, with 5 prominent nerves, the teeth short and obtuse. Petals 

 red, narrow-oblong, a little longer than the calyx. Capsule ovoid-oblong, rather 

 exceeding the calyx. Seeds black, elegantly pitted under a lens. — F. v. M. PI. 

 Vict. i. 206 ; Bichoglottw tubulosa, Jaub. and Spaeh, 111. PI. Or. i. 14 t. 6 ; B. 

 aitstrnli-1, Schlecht. Linnasa, xx. 631. 



Hab.: Stanthorpe and a few other localities in the south. 



A native of the East Mediterranean region of Europe and Asia, possibly introduced into 

 Australia and New Zealand, where it is also found ; yet from the localities where it was so early 

 collected by R. Brown, and its general difiusiou over extratropical Australia, it is difficult to 

 conceive how a plant unknown in those parts of Europe whence the early colonists proceeded 

 should have so promptly established itself. It is allied to the more common G. muralis, which, 

 however, has not beeh detected in Australia, and is always quite distinct, especially in the form 

 of the calyx, which is that of a true Gypsophila, whilst G. tubulosa is in this respect almost 

 intermediate between that genus and Saponaria. — Benth. 



*2. SAPONARIA, Linn. 

 (Bruised leaves when agitaited in water produce a lather, like soap.) 

 Calyx more or less tubular, ovoid or oblong, 5-toothed, nerves obscure. Petals 

 5, clawed ; limb entire or notched, with or without a basal scale. Stamens 10. 

 Disk small, or produced into a gynophore. Ovary 1 -celled, or imperfectly 

 2 or 3-celled. Styles 2, rarely 8 ; ovules many. Capsule ovoid or. oblong, rarely 

 subglobose, 4 -toothed. Seeds reniform or subglobose, hilum marginal ; embryo 

 annular. — Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves fiat. Flowers in dichotomous 

 cymes. 



Chiefly Mediterranean and West Asiatic. 



1. S. vaccaria (from r<mai-iu.s, a cow-herb), Linn. Cowherb. A tall, 

 robust, simple or sparingly branched, perfectly glabrous annual, 12 to 24in! 

 high. Leaves radical, oblong, 1 to Sin. long, 3 to 9 lines broad, stem ones 



