1^0 LXlV. RUBIACEite. [Oldenlandia. 



Capsules very variable, 1^ to 2 lines diameter, turbinate, didymous, or hemi- 

 spherical, terete or 4-ribbed, membranous ; crown usually exceeding the calyx- 

 teeth. — Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. iii. 69 ; Hrdijotis raceiium, P. v. M. Fragm. vii. 46. 

 Hab.: Kockingham Bay, F. t . .U. I.e. ■ 



'6. O. polyclada (many-branched), F. v. M. Fragm. viii. 146. A much- 

 branched undershrub. Branchlets -very shortly pubescent. Stipules mucrohu- 

 late-laciniate. Leaves linear, acute, 4 to 8 lines long and ^ to f line broad or 

 sometimes exceeding these measurements. Peduncles filiform at the ends of the 

 branchlets, solitary or in pairs. Calyx-lobes semilanceolate, mucronulate; corolla 

 pale rose, much longer than the calyx ; lobes 4, semilanceolate, with a ring of 

 hairs inside the tube. Filaments shortly extended beyond the sinus. Anthers 

 thin, f line long. Style glabrous, capillary, 2 or 8 lines long. Stigma scarcely 

 ^ line long, recurved. Capsule inferior, very thinly crustaceous, almost globose, 

 loeulicidal, bivalved at the top. Seeds angular with a reticulate brown testa. 



Hab.: l-tockingham Bay, J. Dallachy {F. v. M. I.e.) 



4. O. caerulescens (bluish), /•'. r. ^[. Frayw. iv. 38, Annual or perennial, 

 with slender but rigid virgate stems of about 1ft., quite glabrous. Leaves 

 narrow-linear, acute, attaining sometimes lin. or even more. Pedicels in the 

 upper axils, solitary or in pairs, or 3 or 4 on a common peduncle, the pedicels 

 unequal in length, forming a very irregular loose terminal slightly leafy panicle. 

 Calyx-tube when in flower 1 line long, the lobes much shorter. Corolla white, at 

 length blue, about 1 line long, deeply 4-cleft. Fruit about 2 lines long and much 

 narrower, laterally compressed and furrowed at the dissepiment, truncate at the 

 top, the capsule very slightly prominent, opening loculicidally in 2 valves, not 

 splitting septicidally. Seed small and angular. — Hedyotis caimkscdm, F. v. M. in 

 Benth. Fl. Austr. iii. 404, who considered the species an Oldenlwndia. 



Hab.: Broadsound, R. Brown ; Peak Downs, F. c. Mueller. 



8. SYNAPTANTHA, Hook. f. 



(Referring to the flowers coalescing.) 



Calyx-tube turbinate, half-superior, limb-lobes 4, herbaceous, linear, distant, 

 persistent. Corolla rotate, completely 4-partite, glabrous, segments scarcely 

 connate, ovate-lanceolate, acute, valvate, marcescent. Stamens 4, inserted 

 between the corolla-segments, to the base of which they are attached as well as to 

 the ovary ; anthers dorsifixed, small, oblong. Disk inconspicuous. Ovary half- 

 superior, 2-celled ; style slender, branches 2, small, recurved. Ovules numerous 

 in each cell. Capsule three-quarter superior, 2-celled, cells 2-valved, few-seeded. 

 Seeds oblong, obtuse-angular, testa smooth, albumen fleshy. Embryo terete, 

 cotyledons oblong. — A small herb with puberulent branches. Leaves opposite. 

 Stipules small, connate with the petioles, 2-toothed. Flowers small, axillary, 

 solitary or in pairs. 



1. S. tillseacea (Tiltea-hke), Hook. J. in Benth. and Hook. /'. Gen. PI. ii. 

 61; Hook. f. Ic. PZ. 1146. In Benth. Fl. Austr. iii. 405 given as Hedyotis 

 Ullmacea. Perennial, much-branched, erect or diffuse, about 8 or 4in. high, 

 glabrous or minutely pubescent. Leaves linear or linear-oblong, mostly obtuse', 

 about 8 or 4 lines long. Stipules small, usually with 2 teeth on each side! 

 Pedicels axillary, not exceeding the leaves. Calyx-tube turbinate, not ^ line long ; 

 lobes linear, herbaceous, distant, rather longer than the tube. Corolla broadly 

 campanulate, about ^ line long, divided nearly to the base, persistent on the ripe 

 fruit. Cap.sule more tha)i half-superior, compressed, about 1 line bi-oad, opening 

 loculicidally in 2 valves, not usually splitting. ' Seeds ovate, attached by the 

 inner face, which is sometimes broad and flat, sometimes narrow and prominent. 



Hab.: Common on Downs country. 



