136 PHANEROGAMIA. 



much branched, the branches very leafy, glabrous. Leaves opposite, 

 spreading, approximate (the internodes varying from a quarter of an 

 inch to an inch in length) and usually with smaller ones fascicled in 

 their axils, thus appearing much crowded, filiform, or nearly so, the 

 larger ones 2 inches long and only half a line wide, one-nerved, invo- 

 lute, or channelled above, mucronulate, glabrous, their bases connate 

 by a narrow membrane, not at all stipulate. Inflorescence a narrow 

 and crowded, interrupted thyrsus, much like that of Schiedea ligus- 

 trina, composed of from 3 to 5 pairs of many-flowered cymules ; the 

 lower pairs mostly rather distant, and sometimes prolonged; the 

 upper ones approximate. Bracts of the lower pairs like the cauline 

 leaves; of the upper, very short, ovate-subulate. Peduncles and pedi- 

 cels minutely pubescent, one or two lines long. Calyx campanulate, a 

 line or less in length, five-parted; the sepals ovate, obtuse, rather 

 fleshy, but with narrow hyaline margins, nearly nerveless, very 

 slightly pubescent externally near the base, persistent. Staminodia 

 5, petaloid, inserted into the very base of the calyx, one opposite each 

 sepal, at first short, at length almost equalling them in length, linear- 

 subulate, thickened at the base, where they are concave and appa- 

 rently nectariferous on the inner side, persistent. Fertile stamens 

 10, five of them inserted into the base of the calyx alternate with its 

 divisions, and five inserted before the staminodia, with the base of 

 which they cohere. Some of the flowers are tetramerous and octan- 

 drous. Filaments capillary, elongated and exserted, persistent. 

 Anthers oblong, two-celled. Ovary ovoid, one-celled, with about 15 

 campylotropous ovules on a free central placenta. Styles 3, capillary, 

 stigmatose on the inner face. Capsule ovoid, three-valved, a little 

 longer than the calyx. Seeds several, minute, reniforrn; the testa 

 obscurely tuberculate or roughened, nearly smooth. 



This species is a strict congener of S. Ugustrina; and is remarkable 

 for its very narrow and fascicled leaves, not unlike those of the com- 

 mon Spurrey. 



Plate 11, A. — Schiedea spergulina. Fig. 1. A flower. 2. A 

 sepal. 3. A staminodium, with the stamen coherent with its base. 

 4. A stamen of the other series. 5. Pistil, with the ovary longi- 

 tudinally divided. 6. Dehiscent capsule, with the persistent calyx, 

 &c. 7. A seed. — All the details more or less maanified. 





