Microcarpcea .] 
LXXXVII. SCROPHULARINE.E. 
1113 
1. 1VE. muscosa (moss-like), R. Br. Prod. 436; Benth. FI. Austr. iv. 501. 
A dwarf slender intricately-branched prostrate plant, creeping and rooting 
at the nodes, nearly glabrous or the margins of the leaves, angles of the stems 
and calyxes ciliate with small rigid hairs. Leaves sessile, linear, narrow-oblong 
or linear-lanceolate, obtuse, entire, under 2 lines long. Flowers all but sessile 
in the axils, usually one only to each pair of leaves. Calyx f line long, 
prominently angled, with 5 acute ciliate teeth. Corolla-tube shorter than the 
calyx and the lobes very shortly exceeding it. Stamens nearly as long as the 
corolla. Capsule much shorter than the calyx.— Benth. in DC. Prod. x. 433. 
Hab : Shoalwater Bay, R. Brown. 
18. PEPLIDIUM, Delile. 
(Resembling Water Purslane.) 
Calyx tubular, 5-angled, 5-toothed or shortly 5-lobed. Corolla with a short 
tube and 5 nearly equal lobes. Stamens 2, the filaments somewhat dilated at 
the base; anthers 1-celled (by the confluence of 2 divaricate cells?). Ovary 
completely 2-celled. Style short, dilated upwards into a broad spathulate lamina 
curved over the stamens. Capsule globular or ovoid, indehiscent or irregularly 
bursting (or sometimes 4-valved?). — Small creeping or prostrate herbs. Leaves 
opposite. Flowers very small, axillary, without bracteoles. 
The genus is limited to the 2 Australian species, of which one is widely diffused over the 
warmer regions of Asia and Africa, the other is endemic. The genus ought, perhaps, to be 
reunited with Microcarpcea, in which Smith had placed the common species. The anthers 
appear to have been erroneously described as bilocular. — Benth. 
Flowers sessile or nearly so. Capsule globular, obtuse 1. P. humifusum 
Flowers distinctly pedicellate. Capsule ovoid, acute 2. P. Muelleri. 
1. P. humifusum (creeping), Delile ; Benth. in DC. Prod. x. 422, and FI. 
Austr. iv. 500. A dwarf prostrate glabrous plant, creeping and rooting at the 
nodes, sometimes forming dense tufts of 2 or 3in. diameter, sometimes spreading 
to a considerable extent. Leaves ovate obovate or orbicular, o,btuse, entire, 
contracted into a short petiole, rather thick especially when small, \ to -Jin. long 
or rarely rather larger (in very wet situations), the short petioles of each pair 
connected by their membranous margins. Flowers sessile or nearly so in the 
axils. Calyx scarcely above 1 line at the time of flowering, with 5 prominent 
angles or folds and membranous between them, the teeth short and obtuse. 
Corolla-tube rather shorter than the calyx, the lobes very short and rounded. 
Filaments rather thick, especially towards the base, angularly incurved. Capsule 
globular, large for the plant, very obtuse, enclosed in the distended calyx, about 
1| line diameter, membranous and indehiscent or at length bursting irregularly 
towards the bas Microcarpcea cochleari folia, Sm.; Hook. Bot. Misc. iii. 95. t. 
suppl. 29, and other synonyms quoted in the 1 Prodromus.’ 
Hab.: Rockhampton, O’Shanesy ; Cape River, Botvman. 
The species extends over the greater part of tropical and subtropical Asia and Africa. 
2. P. Muelleri (after F. v. Mueller), Benth.. FI. Austr. iv. 500. Stems 
procumbent, much firmer than in P. humifusum, and not rooting at the nodes, 
glabrous or sparingly scabrous-pubescent. Leaves petiolate, ovate or obovate, 
very obtuse, entire, rather thick, 4 to 8 lines long. Flowers usually 2 together 
in each axil, on pedicels of 1 to 2 lines. Calyx tubular, 1J line long, 5-angled, 
with obtuse teeth. Corolla-tube nearly as long as the calyx ; lobes oval-oblong, 
at least half as long as the tube, with 2 very prominent ridges (rudiments of 
