P:nhyd,-a:\ LXV. COMPOSITE. 85& 



3-toothed ligulas ; disk-florets hermaphrodite but usually sterile, tubular 5- 

 toothed. Anthers obtuse at the base. Style-branches flattened, scarcely trun- 

 cate. Achenes of the ray flattened, with obtuse edges, without any pappus, 

 those of the disk usually abortive. — Herbs with opposite leaves. Flower-heads 

 sessile in the forks of the stem or in the axils of the leaves. 



The genus is limited to a very few species from tropical Asia, which may indeed be all varieties 

 of one, and a few others from S. America. The Australian plant is evidently the same as the 

 common Indian one. — Bcnth. 



1. E. paludosa (swamp plant), DC. Prod. v. 637; Bentli. Fl. Austr. iii. 

 546. Glabrous or slightly scabrous-pubescent. Stems elongated, creeping and 

 rooting in the mud, the flowering branches ascending, simple or forked. Leaves 

 shortly petiolate, oblong or lanceolate, coarsely toothed or nearly entire, narrowed 

 at the base, or sometimes, especially those under the forks, slightly hastate, the 

 petiole often dilated at the base and stem-clasping. Involucral bracts broadly 

 ovate, the 2 outer larger ones 3 to 6 lines long, exceeding the florets. — Tetraotis 

 paludosa, Reinw. in Blume, Bijdr. 892 ; Knhydra lonififolia and E. Heloncha, 

 DC. Prod. V. 637; E. Woollsii, F. v. M. Fragm. iii. 189.' 



Hab.: In marshes, sometimes quite under water ; southern localities. 



The species is common in E. India and the Archipelago, and may not be really distinct from 

 the original E. fluctuans, Lour. The Australian specimens have the leaves move narrowed at the 

 base than is usual in Asia, but precisely the same form occurs also in India. — Benth. 



66 ECLIPTA, Linn. 

 (Referring to the pappus being wanting.) 



Involucre of about 2 rows of nearly equal herbaceous bracts. Receptacle 

 ohafify. Florets of the ray female, shortly ligulate, narrow ; disk-florets her- 

 maphrodite, usually fertile, tubular, 4-toothed. Anthers obtuse at the base. 

 Style-branches linear, flattened, obtuse. Achenes of the ray triangular, those 

 of the disk flattened. Pappus none or reduced to a border of minute teeth. 

 — Herbs with opposite leaves. Flower-heads small, on axillary or terminal 

 peduncles. 



Of the Queensland species, one is a cosmopolitan tropical weed, the other is endemic. 



Bay white. Tnvolucral bracts ovate . . . . . 1. E. alba. 



Kay yellow. Involucral bracts narrow-lanceolate . ... . . . 2. F. platyglossa. 



1. E. alba (white), Hassk; 2Uq. FL Ned. bid. ii. 65 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. iii. 

 53(3. A branching annual, usually prostrate or creeping, sometimes ascending 

 or erect, 1ft. long or more, sprinkled with closely appressed short stiff hairs. 

 Leaves shortly petiolate, from nearly ovate to oblong-lanceolate or almost 

 linear, 1 to 2in. long, coarsely toothed or nearly entire. Peduncles in the 

 upper axils solitary or 2 together, very variable in length, bearing a single 

 flower-head about 3 lines diameter. Involucral bracts usually broadly ovate, 

 obtuse. Scales of the receptacle narrow-linear. Ray-florets small, white. 

 Achenes of the disk with thick almost corky margins, the pappus either quite 

 abortive or reduced to a border of i minute obtuse teeth, conspicuous chiefly at 

 the time of flowering. — E. erecta a.nA E.prostraia, Linn., and the whole section 

 PJi(£clipta, DO. Prod. v. 490. 



Hab.: Burdekin Eiver, F. v. Mueller ; Brisbane Kiver, Moreton Bay, C. Stuart, F. v. UueUer ; 

 Eockhampton, Herb. F. v. Mueller. 



A common weed throughout the warmer regions of the globe. 



