152 BUBIACEJ!. [Oldenlandia. 



barium? (a very bad garden specimen), DC. Prod. iv. 426. 0. corymbosa, Linn. Herbarium, 



DC.1.C. . . . :, ™. . 



Waste places, Hongkong, C4«»zpioM and otbers : both varieties mixed, llus is a very 

 common weed throughout the warmer parts of Asia and Africa, and in some parts of tro- 

 pical America. The two forms are often sent together. At first sight they look very dis- 

 tinct; but on carefully measuring the size of the flowers and capsules, I find them pass so 

 gradually one into the other, that I could draw no line of separation. So also in the length 

 of the peduncle ; it is not a line long in many specimens of the 0. tracJiypoda, DC, from 

 the Archipelago, and in corresponding ones from E. India ; in the Hongkong ones, as in 

 most of the Indian ones, it varies from 1 to 6 lines, and in some very luxuriant specimens 

 from Asia, Africa, and America, 1 have seen it near 1 in. long. The large-flowered speci- 

 mens are almost universally uniflorous. The small-flowered variety has usually the pedi- 

 cels longer than the flowers, and 2 or 3 together (rarely 4 or even 5) on an equally slender 

 aud scarcely longer peduncle; but very frequently the peduncles are uniflorous, especially in 

 the lower part of the plant. It is probable that besides the synonyms above given, several 

 other described Oldenlandias belong to this species. 



4. O. paniculata, Linn. CEerbariimJ ; BO. Frod. iv. 427. A glabrous 

 annual or biennial, usually much branched, diffuse or nearly erect, and only a 

 few inches high, sometimes ascending to the height of a foot more. Leaves 

 ovate or oblong, from -j to above 1^ in. long, and almost always much broader 

 than in 0. herbacea. Stipulary bristles ahort. Peduncles 1- to 3-flowered, 

 irregularly arranged in loose terminal panicles, leafy at the base. Mowers 

 little above a line long ; the calyx-lobes very short, about the length of the 

 minute coroRa-tube. Capsule usually from 1 to 1-|- lines, sometimes 2 lines 

 long, crowned by the minute distant calyx-teeth, and usually with 2 or 4 pro- 

 ininent ribs, sometimes expanded into narrow wings more or less decur- 

 rent on the pedicel. — Hedyotis (Oldenlandia) alata. Keen. ; H. (0.) b^ora, Br. ; 

 and IT. fO.J racemosa. Lam., with the synonyms given to each in W. and Am. 

 Prod. PI. Penins. i. 413 and 414 (except the Linnaean O, biflora, which is 

 0. herbacea), Wight, Ic. t. 312. 0. pterita, Miq. -PL Ned. Lid. ii. 193. 



Hongkong, Wright. A common S. Asiatic weed, extending from Ceylon and the Penin- 

 sula to Burmah, Siam, the Indian Archipelago, the Philippines, Loochoo, and Japan. The 

 three forms described by Wight aud Amott run very much one into the other. The broadly 

 winged base of the capsule and pedicel of some specimens of H. alata passes gradually into 

 the narrower wing of E. biflora and the almost entirely wingless state of H. racemosa. The 

 Hongkong specimens agree perfectly with the smaller ones of the latter, such as we have 

 them from Central India, Java, etc. ; so also, on a careful examination, does the very poor 

 specimen of Gerontogea racemosa, Cham., from Radack, in the Hookerian Herbarium. 



5. O. . . . .? A single specimen, in fruit, from Hongkong, in Wright's 

 collection, has the habit of some of the African Oldenlandias of the section 

 KohauUa (characterized by the long tube of the corolla) ; but as there is neither 

 coroUa nor bud, it is impossible to determine it. 



6. MUSS-ffiJlIDA, Linn. 

 Calyx-limb of 5 deciduous lobes or teeth, one in a few of the outer flowers 

 of each corymb often produced into a large, stalked, bract-like, coloured leaf. 

 Corolla-tube usually elongated ; lobes 5, valvate in the bud. Anthers included 

 in the tube or neai-ly so. Style with 2 stigmatic lobes. Ovary 2-celled, with 

 many ovules in each, attached to a bifid placenta projecting from the partition. 

 Pi-uit succulent, indehiscent. Seeds numerous, small. — Shrubs or small trees. 

 StipiUes 2 on each side, often united at the base. Flowers in terminal 

 corymbs. 



