'] BUBIACEiE; 151 



coaaivent.^ffedyotk kupida, Retz ; DC- Prod. iv. 420. Scleromitrion his- 

 pidum, Korth. in Ned. Kruidk. Ai-ch. ii. 155. 



Hongkong, Wright. Dispersed as a weed over India and the Archipelago. 



3. O. augustifolia, Benth. A diffuse or decumbent herb, with the 

 habit of 0. hiapida, but more slender, and glabrous or seldom very slightly 

 pubescent. _ Leaves almost sessile, linear, 1 to 1^ in. long, 1 to ]| lines 

 broad. Stipules short, with several bristle-like teeth. Flowers about 2 lines 

 long. Corolla slightly pubescent. Calyx and capsule as in 0. hiapida, but 

 quite glabrous. — Eedyotis^ angustifolia, Cham, and Schlecht. ; DC. Prod. iv. 

 419. Scleromitrion angustifoUum, Benth. in Kew Joum. Bot. iv. 172. Hedy- 

 otis approsnmata, Wall. Catal. n. 852. Scleromitrion tetraquetfum, Miq. Fl. 

 Ned. Ind. ii. 186. * i • 



Hongkong, Ohampicm and others. Also in Khasia, Silhet, and Peuang, and apparently a 

 common weed in the Indian Archipelago. 



3. O^ herbacea, BC. Prod. iv. 425 {but without the lAnncean synonym 

 there quoted*). A much-branched, slender, diffuse annual, 6 in. to 1 foot 

 long, glabrous, or rough with a sHght pubescence. Stipules with short 

 bristle-like teeth. Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, usually |^ to 1 in. long, 

 and 1 to 2 lines broad, narrowed at the base. Peduncles axiUary, usually 

 solitary, bearing either a single flower or a cyme of 2 or 3, and almost always 

 shorter than the leaves. Flowers sometimes scarcely above 1 line long and 

 ■from that to near 2 Hnes. Calyx-teeth shorter than its tube and about the 

 length of the short broad tube of the coroUa, which is glabrous inside or nearly 

 so. Capsule small, usually globular, sometimes almost ovoid, but not so 

 narrow as in 0. Eeyneana, sometimes broader than long, but not didymous 

 as in 0. hrachiata, Wight (0. dichotoma, Keen.), the minute calyx-teeth dis- 

 tinctly separated from each other in a ring round the apex. — Hedyotis (Oldenr 

 landia) Burmanniana and fi". (0.) intermedia, W. and Am. Prod. i. 414, with 

 the synonyms there adduced; H. externa. Wall. Catal. n. 2869 ; H. alainafolia. 

 Wall. Catal. n. 873. 



Var. a. uniflora. Peduncles almost always 1-flowered, either very short (0. irachypoda, 

 DC. Prod. iv. 434), or more than half as long as the leaves ; the flowers usually from 1^ to 

 2 lines long. 



Tar. h. parvijlora. Peduncles slender, mostly 2- to 3-flowered, sometimes with 1 or with 

 4 or B flowers. Flowers scarcely above 1 line long, or even smaller.— 0. hiflora, Linn. Her- 



* The Medyotis herbacea of Linnaeus is not in his herbarium, but from his description 

 in the ' Flora Zeylanica,' especially the observation " Corolla infundibuliformis, hinc ab 01 

 denlandiis diversa," it is evident that he had in view the B. Beyneana, W.-et Arn. Olden- 

 landia biflora is represented by a very poor garden specimen of what appears to be the 

 several-flowered variety of thei present Species; and of 0. corymbosa there is a satisfactory 

 specimen of the same variety ; but neither of these names can well be made to include the 

 single-flowered form, which appears to have been unknown to Linnaeus. We have then to 

 choose for the name of the whole species between Oldenlandia herbacea, DC, Hedyotis 

 diffusa, Willd., and Sedyotis (Oldenlandia) Burmanniana, W. et Arn. I have preferred 

 the first, although derived from a mistaken adoption of Linnseus's specific word, for it is the 

 oldest, in which neither the generic nor the specific term would have to be changed, besides 

 that it is generally adopted for the American specimens. There have been some doubts sug- 

 gested as to Willdenow's Hedyotis diffusa being really this plant, besides that his name was 

 never transferred to Oldenla/ndia till after the Prodromus, and Wight and Arnott's name is 

 still more recent. 



