280 SCROPHULARIACEiE. Herpestis. ' 



16. HERPESTIS, Gsertn. f. ('EQTtrjoTqg, a creeping thing, the original 

 species creeping.) — Low herbs (chiefly American), commonly glabrous ; with 

 opposite leaves, and mainly axillary flowers, in summer. 



§ 1. Corolla obviously bilabiate ; the two posterior lobes being united to form 

 the upper lip : pedicels and calyx ebracteolate : style dilated and 2-lobed at the 

 apex, or stigma bilamellar. — § Mercadonia, Mella, & Chcetodiscus, Benth. in DC. 

 Prodr. & Gen. ii. 952. 



# Erect or ascending glabrous perennials, drying blackish : leaves pinnately veined, mostly petioled 

 and serrate or crenate : anther-cells divergent : style curved at apex : stigmas obovate. 



H. nigrescens, Benth. A foot or two high, mostly erect, very leafy: leaves from 

 oblong to cuneate-laneeolate, serrate, with entire tapering base (1 or 2 inches long) : pedi- 

 cels equalling and the upper surpassing the leaves : upper sepals oblong-lanceolate, not 

 much broader than the narrowly-lanceolate lower ones : corolla whitish or purplish : 

 valves of the capsule often 2-cleft. — Comp. Bot. Mag. ii. 56, & DC. Prodr. x. 394. Gratiola 

 acuminata, Walt. Car. 61 ; Ell. Sk. i. 15 ; Curtis, PI. Wilmingt. in Jour. Bost. Nat. Hist. i. 

 130. — G. incequalis, Walt. 1. c. 1 Gerardia cuneifolia, Pursh, Fl. ii. 422. Matourea nigrescens, 

 Benth. in Comp. Bot. Mag. i. 173. — Wet places, Maryland (A. Hay), and North Carolina 

 to Texas, along and near the coast. 



TT, ohamsedryoid.es, HBK. A span or two high, generally diffuse or decumbent : 

 leaves ovate or oblong, serrate (half or three-fourths inch long), mostly surpassed by the 

 pedicels : upper sepal ovate ; the lower ones ovate or oblong : corolla yellow. — Nov. Gen. 

 & Spec. ii. 369; Benth. 1. u. Erinus procumbens, Mill. Diet. Mercadonia ovata, Ruiz & Pa v.. ■? 

 Lindernia dianthera, Swartz. Microcarpcea Americana, Spreng. Syst. ii. 368. — Moist 

 ground, Texas. (Mex., W. Ind., S. Amer.) 



Var. peduncularis {H. peduncularis, Benth. 1 c.) is founded on a form with erect and 

 simpler stems, smaller and narrower leaves, and filiform pedicels of thrice their length. — 

 Texas, Drummond, also Berlandier, &c. A similar form, but with diffuse or procumbent 

 stems (H. peduncularis, Chapm. FI. 291), is from Key West, Florida. 



* * Creeping, or ascending from a creeping base, stoloniferous-perennial, rather succulent: stems 

 villous-pubescent or glabrate : leaves closely sessile and partly clasping, nervose from the base, 

 entire or obscurely crenulate : capsule 4-valved: corolla blue or violet, varying to white. 



+- Leaves pellucid-punctate, aromatic when bruised : ovary girt by a slenderly 10-12-toothed hypo- 

 gynous disk : anthers somewhat sagittate : stigma dilated, obscurely 2-Iobed : upper lip of corolla 

 obcordate. 



H. amplexicaulis, Pursh. Stems a span to a foot or two long, creeping at base, then 

 ascending and nearly simple, very leafy : leaves ovate, obtuse, half to nearly, an inch long, 

 sometimes a little pubescent: pedicels shorter than calyx or hardly any: upper sepal 

 cordate: corolla 5 lines long, ephemeral. — Fl. ii. 413; Benth. I.e. Obolaria Caroliniana, 

 Walt. Car. 166. Monniera amplexicaulis, Michx. Fl. ii. 22. — Margin of pine-barren ponds, 

 New Jersey (?) and Maryland to Louisiana. 



H— +- Leaves not punctate : hypogynous disk obscure and entire or none : anthers parallel : stigma 

 2-lamellar : upper lip of corolla merely emarginate. 



H. repens, Cham. & Sohl. Glabrous, or summit of the creeping stems puberulent: 

 leaves oval and with broad clasping base (quarter to half inch long) : pedicels about the 

 length of flower and fructiferous calyx: upper and lower sepals broadly oval or sub- 

 cordate, reticulate-veiny, in flower almost equalling the white or whitish corolla. — 

 Linnsea, v. 107 ; Griseb. Fl. W. Ind. 430. R. micrantha, Benth. 1. c, mainly (not Pursh, 

 which is chiefly Micrantkemum) ; Ell. Sk. ii. 105, ex char. Gratiola repens, Swartz, Fl. Ind. 

 Occ. i. 39, & Ic t. 3. — Wet soil, S. Carolina, &c. (W. Ind., Brazil.) 



H. rotundifolia, Pursh. Larger : spreading and creeping stems usually villous-pubes- 

 cent - leaves obovate or rotund, with cuneate-narrowed but partly clasping flabellately 

 many-nerved base, often an inch long: pedicels longer than the flower (commonly in 

 threes) : corolla blue, almost twice the length of the ovate and oval sepals. — Fl. ii. 418; 

 Benth. 1. c. Monniera rotundifolia, Michx. 1. c. — Margin of ponds, Illinois and Missouri to 

 Louisiana and Texas. (Possibly also in " S. Carolina and Georgia," but H. rotundifolia of 

 Elliot is probably the H. amplexicaulis.) 



