100 XVIII. ELATINE^. [Ber,,w. 



Hat, leaving more or less of the dissepiments attached to the axis.^Herbs or 

 undershrubs, prostrate or much branched, often pubescent. Leaves opposite, 

 entire or more frequently serrate. Flowers axillary, solitary or clustered in 

 cymes, small, but usually larger than in Elatiw. 



The genus is widely distributed over the warmer regions of the globe. 

 Flowers small, clustered in the axils. Stamens of the same number as 

 the petals and sepals. 



Stems pubescent 1- S- 'immannioides. 



Flowers solitary, pedicellate. Stamens twice the number of the sepals 

 and petals. 

 Stem woody, prostrate and tortuous. Pedicels short. Outer filaments 

 much broader. Styles filiform . 2. B. perennis. 



1. B. ammannioides (like an Ammania), Roth, Nov. Fl. Sp. 219 ; Benth. 

 Fl. Austr. i. 180. A rigid, much-branched annual, erect or decumbent, pubes- 

 cent or hirsute, with spreading hairs, usually 6in. to 1ft. high. Leaves from 

 oval-elliptical to oblong or lanceolate, the larger ones ^ to lin., but mostly 

 smaller, more or less serrate with mucronate or glandular teeth, narrowed at the 

 base. Stipules lanceolate, serrate. Flowers very small, in dense axillary clusters, 

 on very short filiform pedicels,' usually 5-merous, but sometimes 4-merous or 8- 

 merous. Sepals very narrow, acute, ciliate, about \ line long. Petals narrow, 

 very thin, about as lopg as the sepals. Stamens of the same number as the 

 sepals and petals. Capsule rather shorter, the boat-shaped valves separating 

 septieidally so as to leave the axis almost wholly without any remains of the 

 dissepiments. Seeds 'very small, ovoid, nearly straight. — Elatine ammannioides, 

 Wight, in Hook. Bot. Misc. iii. 93, t. 5 ; Wight, 111. t. 25a ; F. v. M. Fragm. 

 ii. 147. 



Hab.: Thursday Island and various other localities. 



The species is common in East India and the warmer regions of Africa. 



2. B. perennis (perennial), J^. v. M. Herb.; Benth. Fl. Amtr. i. 181. 

 Stems prostrate, woody, tortuous, with very short leafy branches, glabrous or 

 with a very few short hairs. Leaves from ovate to elliptical-oblong, mostly 3 to 

 4 lines long, rather rigid, glabrous and glaucous, often ciliate towards the base 

 and narrowed into a short petiole. Stigmas lanceolate, ciliate. Flowers usually 

 5-merous, on solitary pedicels, rarely exceeding the length of the leaves. Sepals 

 broadly-lanceolate, keeled, with scarious margins, nearly 2 lines long. Petals 

 longer, rather narrow. Stamens usually 10, the 5 outer filaments dilated, espe- 

 cially below the middle. Styles filiform. Capsule rather shorter than the calyx, 

 the valves leaving much of the dissepiments attached to the central column. 

 Seeds oblong, curved, slightly furrowed and transversely wrinkled like those of 

 Elatine. — Elatine perennis, F. v. M. Fragm. ii. 146. 



Hab,: Banks of the rice swamps near Sturt's Creek, F. v. Mueller. The species is nearly aUisd 

 to the S. African B. anagalloides, E. Mey, which is a perennial with the same styles and stamens, 

 but its flowers are rather larger, on longer pedicels. — Benth. 



Order XIX. HYPERICINEiE. 



Flowers regular, hermaphrodite. Sepals 5, rarely 4, imbricate in the bud. 

 Petals as many, hypogynous, imbricate and usually contorted in the bud. 

 Stamens indefinite, hypogynous, usually united or clustered into 8 or 5 bundles ; 

 anthers 2-celled. Ovary consisting of 3 to 5 carpels more or less united, either 

 1 -celled with the placentas on the inflexed margins of the carpels or completely 

 divided into cells by the union of the placentas in the axis. Styles as many as 

 carpels, free or rarely united at the base, with terminal stigma's. Ovules usually 

 several to each cell or placenta, anatropous, Fruit capsular or rarely fleshy and 



