Nothoscerua.] oxvi. AMARANTAOEiE. (J. D. Hooker.) 727 



SciNDBandtheCoiroAK,/S<ooi«,&c. Maisob and the Caewatio. Btjema, Wallich. 

 Cetion, common.— DiSTBiB. Mauritius, E. and W. tropical Africa. 



Erect, 1-2 ft., branched from the base ; branches puberulous, spreading. Leaves 

 1-2 in., ovate elliptic or subovate, obtuse or subacute, membranous, green ; petiole 

 0-i in. Spikes very numerous, sessile, i-J in. loug, cylindric, white, dense-fld. ; 

 bracts broadly ovate, hyaline, persistent. Sepal's ^ in. long, silkily villous.— One of 

 the smallest flowered plants provided with a regular perianth. Moquin has probably 

 confounded this with the very similar ^Erua lanata (as did Wight), to which the 

 latter part of his description applies. 



13. SRUA, ForsJc. 



Woolly herbs or underslirubs. Leaves alternate or opposite. Flowers 

 small or minute, in solitary or panicled spikes, often polygamous. Sepals 

 4-5, short, membranous, all or the inner only woolly. Stamens 4-5, connate 

 below with interposed linear staminodes into a cup ; anthers 2-oelled. 

 Ovary ovoid or subglobose ; style long or short, stigma capiteUate or 2-fid ; 

 ovule 1, pendulous from a long basal funicle. Utricle indehiscent, or the 

 coriaceous crown circumsoiss. Seed inverse, testa coriaceous ; embryo 

 annular. — Species 10, tropical Asiatic and African. 



* Spikes axillary and in terminal panicles. Leaves opposite or alternate. 



1. S:. javanica, Juss. in Ann. Mus. xi. 131 ; hoary-tomentose, 

 shrubby below, leaves from linear to oblanoeolate or oblong acute obtuse 

 or retnse, spikes elongate densely woolly not glistening, style elongate, 

 stigmas loug. Wall. Oat. 6908 ; Wight Ic. t. 876 ; Moq^. in DC. Prodr. 

 xiii. 2, 299; Dale. Sf Oils. Bomh. Fl. 216; Boiss. Fl. Orient, iv. 992. 

 M. Wallichii, Moq. I. c. 300. M. tomentosa, Forsk. Fl. Mg. Arab. 122; 

 LamJc. Diet. i. 46. Mi. ssgyptiaca, Gmel. Syst. 1026. M. Bovii, Fdgew. in 

 Journ. Linn. Soe. vi. 206. M. incana, Manrt, in Nov. Act. Acad. Nat. 

 Cur. rii. (1826), 291. Achyranthes alopecuroides, Lamk. I. c. 548. A. java- 

 mc3.,Pers. Syn. i. 259. A. incana, Boxb. Fl. Ind.i. 671, uni Fd. Carey 

 f Wall. ii. 495. lUeoebrum javanicum, Ait. Sort. Men, 289. Iresine 

 javanica & persica, Burm. Fl. Ind. 212 (by error 312), t. 65. Celosia 

 lanata, Linn. 8p. PI. 298. 



From the Oudh Tebai, Wallich, to the Panjab, Boyle, &c. Scindb, Stocks. 

 Centeal India, Clarke. The Deccan from the Concak southward. Btjbma, 

 Wallich. Cbtlon ; N. of the island, Gardner. — Distbib. Westward to Arabia, 

 E. and W; tropical Africa, and the Cape Verde Islands. Java ? 



Dioecious. Stem terete, 2-3 ft., branched, as thick as a goose-quill. Leaves 

 alternate, 1-4 in., flat or with recurved margins, sessile or narrowed into a petiole; 

 nerves distinct. Spikes often in large panicles, sessile, erect or nodding, 1-6 in. 

 long. Flowers ^'j in. long, enveloped in long wool, males very rare. — Bdgeworth 

 (Fl. Mall. 1. c.) insists that the narrow-leaved form is a distinct species, and is 

 odorous, which .^. javanica (which grows with it) is not. Boissier makes a variety 

 of it ; local botanists should see to this. 



2. Bi. scandens, Wall. Cat. 6911, excl. M; a climbing undershrub, 

 branches hoary-tomentose, leaves ovate elliptic oblong or lanceolate obtuse 

 or acute glabrous or hoary, spikes globose ovoid or shortly cylindric woolly 

 shining, sepals lanceolate acuminate, stigmas very short. Moq. in DC. 

 Prodr. xiii. 2, 302 ; Wight Ic. t. 724 (utricle and seed wrong) ; Dalz. Sf 

 Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 217. Achyranthes scandens, Boxb. Fl. Ind. i. 676, and 

 Ed. Carey Sf Wall., ii. 503. 



