Ammannia .] 
LIII. LYTHRARIEiE. 
675 
cordate-auriculate. Flowers in little axillary cymes, shorter than the floral 
leaves ; the peduncles, branches, and pedicels all short. Calyx at first narrow at 
the base, with the upper part broader and folded, with 4 short teeth, above 1 line 
diameter when fully out, with the border truncate, the teeth scarcely prominent. 
Petals 4, orbicular. Stamens usually, but perhaps not always, 6 to 8. Ovary 
2-celled ; style rather longer than in the preceding species. Capsule depressed- 
globular, scarcely exceeding the calyx, about Inline diameter, bursting irregularly 
and transversely. 
Hab.: Point Lookout. Banks and Solander ; Wide Bay, Bidwill. 
Abundant in tropical and subtropical Africa, perhaps rather less so in Asia, where it is 
commonly replaced by the preceding species or variety. — Benth. 
2. *PEPLIS, Linn. 
(A Greek name for Purslane.) 
Calyx campanulate, with 6 rarely 5 external and 6 internal smaller teeth. 
Petals 6 rarely 5, inserted at the throat of the calyx, very fugacious or none. 
Stamens 6 rarely 5, inserted in the middle of the calyx-tube ; filaments short, 
anthers didymous. Ovary subglobose, membranous, 2-celled, included in the 
calyx. Style very short. Capsule 2-celled, 2-valved, or bursting irregularly. 
Seeds numerous, minute, obovate, plano-convex. — Herbs with alternate or oppo- 
site, obovate or linear-oblong, entire leaves, and axillary, sessile, solitary, small, 
2-bracteolate flowers. 
This genus is found in Europe, temperate Asia, and North America. 
1. P. portula (like a Portulaca), Linn. Water Purslane. A slightly branched 
creeping plant, with obovate or oblong leaves. Flowers sessile in the axils of 
nearly all the leaves. Capsule enclosed in the somewhat enlarged calyx, but 
seldom attaining 1 line in diameter. 
Hab.: A common European plant found in wet situations; has become naturalised in many 
Queensland bush-houses. 
3. LYTHRUM, Linn. 
(From lythron, blood ; colour of flowers.) 
Calyx tubular, 8 to 12-ribbed, with 4 to 6 triangular often very short primary 
lobes or teeth, the sinus produced into as many external accessory ones, short or 
spreading, or erect and longer than the primary ones. Petals 4 to 6. Stamens 
twice as many as petals or fewer, inserted below the middle of the calyx. Ovary 
2-celled (or very rarely 3-eelled?), with several ovules in each cell ; style filiform, 
with a minute or capitate stigma. Capsule included in the persistent calyx, 
oblong or globular, opening in septicidal valves at the top or bursting irregularly. 
Seeds numerous, small. — Herbs or rarely undershrubs, glabrous or villous. 
Leaves opposite, verticillate or the upper ones alternate, usually narrow. Flowers 
solitary, or 3 to 5 together in the axils, sessile or pedunculate, but not forming a 
head as in most Nesceas. 
The genus is spread over most parts of the globe. 
Calyx outer-lobes erect, longer than the inner ones. Capsule oblong, 
hard, septicidally dehiscent. 
Tall perennial. Leaves opposite or verticillate. Flowers nearly sessile, 
several in each axil, forming showy terminal spikes more or less leafy i. L. Saticuria. 
Decumbent annual. Upper leaves alternate. Flowers small, solitary, 
sessile or shortly pedicellate 2. L. hyxsopifolium. 
1. I .. Salicaria (Willow-like), Linn.: DC. Prod. iii. 82; Benth. FI. Austr. iii. 
298. Loose Strife. Rootstock perennial, with stout annual erect stems, 2 to 8ft. 
high, slightly branched, glabrous or pubescent. Leaves opposite or sometimes in 
