576 



from the hilum, Inferior, ov in some cases centrifugal. — Herba- 

 ceous plants, usually stemless, occasionally with a stem : leaves 

 forming rosettes, or in the caulescent species both alternate 

 and opposite, flat and ribbed, or taper and fleshy ; flowers in 

 spikes, rarely solitary : usually bisexual, seldom, by abortion, 

 vyith the male and female in separate flowers. 



GENUS I. PLAJSTTAGO. 



Tetrandria Ifloiiosynia. Sex: Spat: 



Deriv. Prom Planta, the sole of -the foot, from a resemblance 

 in the leaves. 



Gen. Char. Jlowers hermaphrodite, spiked or capitate, each 

 Vith a bract : calyx 4-Ieaved, leaflets nearly equal : corolla tubular, 

 4-lobed, scarioae, persistent : stamens four, exserted or enclosed, 

 filaments flaccid : anthers cordate : ovary 2-4-celled : cells 1-8- 

 ovuled : style simple : capsule membranaceous, dehiscing circularly 

 at the base, pyxidate, dissipiment at length free, seed-bearing on 

 the faces : seeds in many-seeded capsules small, angular, in two- 

 Seeded ones boat-shaped, testa mncilaginously pale, olive or 

 fcrown. 



(1) P. EROSA. (Wall.) 



Ident. Wall. Cat. No. 6412.— Dec. prod. XIII. p. I. p. 696.-^ 

 Jloxb. flor Ind. Ed. car. I. p. 423. 



Syn. P. Asiatica, Linn. 



Engrav. Wight's 111, 2. t. 177. 



Spec. Char. Herbaceous : leaves oval or ovate-elliptic, entire, 

 or erosely toothed, 5-nerved, scattered with slight pubescence, 

 glabrate, petioled : petioles channelled, dilated at the base, membra- 

 naceous, a little bearded : peduncles ascending, exceeding the leaves 

 compressed or channelled below : spikes long loose-flowered below • 

 bracts shorter than the calyx, ovate glabrous or ciliolate : calycine 

 leaflets ovate-rotund, glabrous broadly membranaceous : lobes of the 

 corolla ovate, acutish, reflexed : ovary small, 2-celled, 12-18-? 

 oyided, cells 8-ovuled : flowers small, whitish. 



Khasia hills. Neilgherries. Flowering in the cold season, 



