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Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 
inferior, with 5 or occasionally many equal imbricate lobes. Corolla 
gamopetalous, funnel-shaped cup-shaped campanulate or rotate ; 
lobes S, rarely many, imbricate or sometimes twisted. Stamens as 
many as the corolla-lobes, alternate with them, usually fixed to the 
base of the tube, exsert or included ; filaments filiform, sometimes 
dilated or appendiculate at base ; anthers ovate, oblong or linear, dorsi- 
fixed ; cells 2, parallel, dehiscing introrsely with longitudinal clefts. 
Ovary superior, sometimes unilocular, with 2 free or parietal placentas, 
sometimes more or less completely 2-celled with fleshy placentas adnate 
to the septum ; styles either 1 filiform bifid or undivided, or 2 distinct 
from the base ; stigmas terminal, small or capitate ; ovules 2 to many 
in each cell. Capsule loculicidally, sometimes septicidally, bi-valved, 
the placentas if parietal attached to the valves, if central remaining free. 
Seeds usually oblong, globose or angular, 2 to many on each placenta ; 
testa reticulate or wrinkled, rarely smooth ; albumen fleshy, embryo 
small, erect ; cotyledons plano-convex or semi-terete. — Distrib. About 
150 species, chiefly American, very few in the Old World. 
Hydrolea, Linn. 
Herbs or undershrubs. Leaves entire, alternate. Flowers blue, in 
short terminal cymes or racemes. Calyx divided nearly to the base, 
segments lanceolate. Corolla widely campanulate, sub-rotate, lobes 
imbricate. Stamens 5, attached to the corolla-tube ; filaments filiform, 
sometimes dilated at base ; anthers sagittate. Ovary completely 
2- celled, with fleshy placentas adnate to the dissepiment ; styles 2, 
rarely 3, distinct, filiform ; stigmas capitellate ; ovules many in each 
cell, multi-seriate. Capsule globose or ovoid, septicidal, usually 2-, 
rarely 3- or 4-valved. Seeds minute, irregularly wrinkled. — Distrib. 
About 14 species, chiefly American, with one Chinese, one of tropical 
Africa, and one of India and Malaya. 
Hydrolea zeylanica, Vahl Symb. II. 46 (1791). An annual herb ; 
stems nearly glabrous below, glandular pubescent above, soft, somewhat 
succulent, often rooting, always straggling. Leaves membranous ; 
lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, attenuate above and below ; -5 to 2 in. 
long, -2 to -5 in. broad ; glabrous or slightly pubescent ; petiole none or 
very short and winged by the decurrent blade. Floivers in racemes on 
short lateral leafy branches. Calyx-lobes acute, glandular-pubescent, 
3- nerved, about - 3 in. long. Corolla-lobes ovate, -2 in. long, many-nerved, 
blue. Stamens with sagittate, often twisted anthers, and filaments dilated 
at base. Capsule shorter than the calyx-lobes, ovoid, 2-lobed ; placentas 
central, adherent at their backs to the dissepiment. Seeds very many, 
