Melhania.] STEBCULIACEM. 10&- 



By the Choti Gandak in the Gorakhpnr District (Brandis). DiSTHiB.r' 

 Konkan, Burma. The handsome wood is valued for gunstocks, etc. 



5. PENTAPETES, Linn.; Fl. Brit. Ind. i, 371. 



Annual. Leaves hastate-lanceolate. Flowers axillary. Bracteoles 

 3, subulate, caducous. Sepals 5, lanceolate, connate bplow. Petals 5. 

 Stamens 20, connate at the base; feitile 15) in groups of 3 alter- 

 nating with 5 linear obtuse etaminodes, which are nearly as long as- 

 tbe petals. Ovary sessile, o-celled, many-ovuled ; style entire, clavate 

 and spirally twisted ; stigmas 5, minute. Capsule loculicidally 

 5-valved. Seeds 8-12, 2-seriate in each cell, not winged. — A single 

 species, widely distributed in tropical Asia. 



P. plioenicea. Linn. 8p. PI 698 ; Boxh. Fl. Ind. Hi, 157 ; W. 4" ^. 

 Prod. 67 ; F. B. I. i, 371 ; Watt E. D. Vera. Dopahariya. 



Stems branched, 2-5 ft. Leaves variable, up to 5 in. long-, deltoid or 

 hastate to.linear, strongly crenate-serrate, glabrous above, stellate-hairy 

 on the veins heneath; petiole 1 in.; stipules linear, equalling the 

 petiole. Peduncles shorter than the leaves, 1-2 flowered, jointed near the 

 top. Bracteoles 3-5, filiform, | as long as the calyx, caducous. Sepals 

 lanceolate, acute, scabrous. Petals obovate. Capsule subglohose, ^ in.,, 

 shorter than the persistent sepals, bristly with stellate hairs. Seeds 

 angular, rough. 



In rice fields and marshy places. Distrtb. : Throughout the hotter 

 parts of India from the Punjab and Bengal to S. India ; also in Burma. 

 The capsules and root are used medicinally. The flowers open at noon 

 and close again early on the following morning. 



6. MELHANIA, Forsk.; Fi. Brit. Ind. i, 372. 



Shrubs. Leaves simple, downy. Peduncles 1-4 flowered. JBrace 

 teoles 3-5, cordate. Flowers yellow. Sepals 5, connate below. 

 Petals 5, marcescent. Stamens 10, connate below into a very short 

 tube ; the fertile ones 5, alternating with as many ligulate stamin- 

 odes ; anther-cells parallel. Ovary sessile, 5-celled ; cells 1-many- 

 ovuled ; styles 5, connate below, stigmatiferous on their inner faces. 

 CapsM^e loculicidally 5 valved. Seeds albuminous. — Species about 

 20, distributed over the hotter parts of Asia, Africa and Australia. 



Leaves roundish or broadly ovate ; bracteoles 



longer than the calyx . . . . 1. If. Eamiltoniana. 

 Leaves oblong acuminate ; bracteoles equall- 



the calyx 2. M. futteyporensis. 



Leaves oblong-lanceolate ; bracteoles shorter 



than the calyx d. M. tomentosa. 



