152 HYDROPHYLLACE^. 



Okdbr XCII. HYDROPHYLLACE^E. 



Herbs, or rarely shrubs, with watery insipid juice, alternate or sometimes oppo- 

 site leaves, no stipules, mostly a scorpioid inflorescence in the manner of Borra- 

 ginacece, regular 5-merous 5-androus flowers, with the stamens borne on the base 

 or lower part of the corolla alternate with its lobes, a 2-merous ovary, and the 

 two styles distinct or partly united (in Romanzojfia completely united into one) : 

 stigmas terminal. Ovules amphitropous or anatropous, from 4 to very many, 

 pendulous, or when numerous almost horizontal. Hypogynous annular disk at 

 the base of the ovary often conspicuous. Fruit a capsule, one-celled with 

 two parietal placenta?, or incompletely 2-celled by the approximation or meeting 

 of the placentae (borne on semisepta), or even completely 2-celled by their union 

 in the axis. Seeds with a close and usually reticulated or pitted testa, and a 

 small or slender embryo in cartilaginous or firm-fleshy albumen. Scorpioid cymes 

 sometimes complete, more commonly reduced to geminate or solitary false spikes 

 or racemes (which in description may be termed spikes or racemes) '; the pedi- 

 cels bractless. Calyx 5-parted, or of nearly distinct sepals. — Benth. in Linn. 

 Trans, xvii. 267 ; A.DC. Prodr. ix. 287 ; Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. ix. 312, & Bot. 

 Calif, i. 501. 



Tribe I. HYDROPHYLLEiE. Ovary and capsule strictly 1-celled, lined with a 

 pair of expanded, at first fleshy, at maturity thin and membranaceous placentae, 

 which form a lining to the pericarp, and enclose the 4 or more amphitropous 

 ovules and seeds. Calyx sometimes appendaged at the sinuses. Corolla mostly 

 convolute in the bud. Style more or less 2-cleft. Ovary hispid, at least at the 

 apex. Capsule globose, loculicidal, i. e. dehiscent by the- dorsal sutures. Seeds 

 by abortion commonly fewer than the ovules, globular, or angled by mutual pres- 

 sure : albumen cartilaginous. 



# Stamens and style mostly conspicuously exserted : calyx nearly unchanged in fruit : 

 root perennial or biennial : leaves alternate. 



1. HYDROPHYLLUM. Calyx early open, with or without a small appendage at each 

 sinus. Corolla campanulate; the tube within bearing a linear longitudinal appendage 

 opposite each lobe, with infolded edges, forming a nectariferous groove. Filaments and 

 style long and filiform, the former bearded at the middle : anthers linear or oblong, in- 

 flexed in the bud. Seeds 1 to 4 ; the ovules only 4. 



# # Stamens shorter than the corolla : calyx accrescent in fruit : root annual : lower and 

 sometimes all the leaves opposite. 



2. NEMOPHILA. Calyx with a reflexed appendage at each sinus. Corolla rotate or 

 approaching campanulate, usually longer than the calyx; the base within mostly with 10 

 appendages. Anthers usually sagittate-oblong. Ovules 4 to 20. Seeds commonly with 

 a deciduous or more persistent caruncle. 



3. ELLISIA. Calyx destitute of appendages at the sinuses, usually much enlarged 

 under the fruit. Corolla campanulate, shorter or little longer than the calyx; the 

 internal appendages minute or obsolete ; lobes in asstivation either all convolute, or 

 one exterior, or rarely quincuncial. Anthers oval or oblong. Ovules 4 to 8. Seeds 

 not carunculate. 



Tribe II. PHACELIEjE. Ovary either strictly 1-celled or 2-celled by the meeting 

 of the linear or lanceolate placentae in the axis ; these separating in the loculicidal 

 dehiscence, and borne on the middle of the semiseptiferous valves, or sometimes 

 falling away. Calyx naked at the sinuses, deeply 5-parted. Corolla imbricated in 

 the bud. Style from 2-parted to (rarely) entire ; the branches at the apex or the 

 stigmas obscurely if at all thickened. Ovary mostly hispid or pubescent, at least 

 its apex. Albumen cartilaginous or firm-fleshy. 



