Boerhaavia .] 
XCVIII. NYCTAGINEiE. 
1213 
the whole plant glabrous, or the lower portion and foliage pubescent or hirsute, 
with a few longer articulate hairs and sometimes glandular- viscid. Leaves of 
each pair unequal or nearly equal, petiolate, the lower ones often broadly ovate 
or orbicular J to lin. diameter, the upper ones usually smaller or narrower, 
sometimes nearly all narrow-lanceolate, from very obtuse to acute, entire sinuate 
or crisped on the margins especially when hirsute, the smaller ones sometimes 
clustered in the axils, the floral ones passing into minute bracts. Flowers very 
small, pale pink, sessile or on very short pedicels somewhat lengthened under the 
fruits, in little heads or umbels on filiform peduncles more or less branched into 
compound umbels or irregular panicles axillary or terminal. Bracts under the 
pedicels small and lanceolate, with a pair of minute bracteoles under the 
perianth. Perianth constricted above the ovary, the lower portion about ^ line 
long, rather thick, 5-ribbed, studded with stipitate glands, the upper deciduous 
portion campanulate, petal-like, scarcely lobed, from f- to rather above 1 line long. 
Stamens usually 3, sometimes 1, 2 or 4, inserted in a narrow cup-shaped toothed 
disk adnate to the stipes of the ovary, which as well as the whole ovary is 
entirely enclosed in the base of the perianth ; filaments as long as or rather 
longer than the perianth. Fruiting base of the perianth oblong-turbinate, 
glandular-muricate when dry, becoming enveloped in mucilage in hot water, 
from 1 to nearly 2 lines long. — B. mutabilis, Br. Prod. 422, Chois, in DC. 
Prod. xiii. ii. 455 (there placed in a wrong division) ; Nees in PI. Preiss. i. 622; 
F. v. M. PI. Viet. ii. t. 67 (the insertion of the stamens and style incorrect) ; 
B. pubescens, R. Br. Prod. 422 ; B. procumbens, Roxb. ; Wight, Ic. t, 874. 
Hab.: Common throughout the colony. 
The glabrous and hirsute states are generally found in the same localities, the former, 
however, by far the most frequent. The species is a common weed in the warmer regions of 
Asia and Africa. 
Roots roasted whole and eaten, of a mealy sweetish taste, and very nourishing.— Palmer. 
2. B. repanda (repand), Willcl.; Chois, in DC. Prod. xiii. ii. 455 ; Benth. 
FI. Austr. v. 278. A stouter and coarser plant than B. diffusa, -usually glabrous 
and spreading. Leaves petiolate, cordate-ovate or lanceolate, usually acuminate, 
the margins undulate, rather thick, often above lin. long, but sometimes small. 
Flowers pedicellate in umbels on axillary or terminal peduncles and very 
frequently with a whorl of 6 to 8 pedicellate flowers at some distance from the 
terminal umbel. Pedicels 2 to 6 lines long, or more usually unequal in the 
same umbel, not so slender as in B. diffusa. Lower portion of the perianth 
under 1 line long, glandular muricate as in B. diffusa, upper deciduous portion 
funnel-shaped, 3 to 4 lines long, the slender part of the tube as long as the 
campanulate summit. Stamens usually 2 or 3, sometimes 4, exserted. Fruit 
considerably longer than in B. diffusa . — Wight, Ic. t. 1766. 
Hab.: Lady Elliott’s Island, Capt. Robertson. 
The species has a considerable range in E. India, the Indian Archipelago, &c., chiefly in 
maritime districts. 
3. PISONIA, Linn. 
(After M. Piso.) 
Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual. Perianth in the hermaphrodite flowers 
contracted above the ovary, in the males campanulate, in the females ovoid or 
cylindrical, the margin in all 5-angled or 5-toothed. Stamens usually 6 to 8, 
longer than the perianth, none in the female flowers. Ovary entirely wanting 
or imperfect in the male flowers. Stigma in the females dilated, oblique. 
Fruiting perianth oblong or elongated, 5-ribbed, smooth or glandular-muricate, 
crowned by the small withered limb of the perianth. Seed oblong with a deep 
