258 



CLASSIFICATION 



claw, now common in the Gangetic plains and else- 

 where in India. It has capsules with 2 incurved 

 beaks like the claws of a tiger (see fig. 128). By 

 means of these beaks the capsules become attached 

 to the hair or wool of wild animals and are thus dis- 

 persed. 



Sub-class 4. iNCOMPLETyE 



Nat. Order i. Nyctaginacece. — Herbs, shrubs, or 

 trees. Leaves usually opposite, entire. Flowers her- 

 maphrodite, regular, often 

 involucrate. Perianth usu- 

 ally petaloid, connate, in- 

 flated at the base, enclosing 

 the ovary. Stamens 8 to 

 30, hypogynous. Carpels 

 form a i -celled superior 

 ovary, with i erect ovule, 

 enclosed within the inflated 

 base of the perianth. Fruit 

 membranous, indehiscent, 

 enclosed within the coriaceous, persistent perianth 

 base. vSeeds erect, albuminous. The Order is found 

 chiefly in tropical America. Common plants: krishna- 

 kali or Marvel of Peru {Mirabilis Jalapa), a native 

 of America, largely cultivated in our gardens; various 

 species of Boerhaavia, known by the Bengali name 

 of punar-naba, and much used as a medicinal herb 

 by our kavirajes, e.g. B. repens (fig. 223); bagan-bilas 

 {Bougainvillea glabra and B. spectabilis), common 

 climbers of our gardens, also American, cultivated 

 for their showy purple bracts. They climb by means 

 of axillary recurved spines, and bear inconspicuous 

 flowers arising from the mid-rib of each of the three 

 large leafy purple bracts which form a sort of invo- 



Section 

 Fig'. 223. — Punar-naba (red) 

 {Boerhaavia repens) 



P, Perianth enclosing: ovary. 



