100 
LYTHRACEiE. 
[. Ammannia . 
8-12 in sessile or nearly sessile cymes in the axils of most of the leaves ; 
pedicels as long as calyx. Calyx campanulate, in. broad, with 4 del- 
toid teeth and a small horn in each of the sinuses. Petals none. 
Stamens 4. Capsule 1- or imperfectly 2-celled, membranous, splitting 
transversely. A. indica, Lam. A. vesicatoria, Roxb. 
Mauritius, in damp ground at Pamplemousses and Nouvelle Decouverte. Spread 
through the tropics of Old World. 
2. A. salicifolia, Monti Comm. Bonon. i. 112. A glabrous annual, 
f-1 ft. high, with stoutish quadranglar branches. Leaves firmer than 
in the last, lanceolate, deflexed, sessile, rounded at the base. Flowers 
many, in dense glonierules in the axils of most of the leaves ; pedicels 
mostly none. Calyx campanulate, under ^ in. broad, with 4 obscure 
teeth . Petals mostly absent. Stamens 4. Capsule globose, membra- 
nous, brown, twice as large as the calyx, 1-celled with a triquetrous 
central placenta. A. segyptiaca, Willd. A. verticillata, Lam. A. 
glauca, Wall. 
Mauritius, in damp ground at Flacq and Pamplemousses. Spread through 
the tropics of the Old World. 
» 
2. NESJEA, Comm. 
Calyx-tube campanulate, with 4 short teeth, and a small horn in each 
sinus. Petals 4, inserted at the throat of the calyx. Stamens 8-12, in- 
serted in the tube ; filaments filiform ; anthers small, oblong. Ovary free, 
globose, immersed in the calyx-tube, 4-celled ; ovules many ; style fili- 
form, curved ; stigma entire. Fruit a small globose membranous 
capsule splitting at the top. — Herbs with opposite entire leaves and 
small purplish flowers in axillary cymes. Distrib. Tropics of Africa 
and America. Species 12. 
1. Nr triflora, Kimth . ; DC. Frod. iii. 90. A slender annual, gla- 
brous throughout, branched at the base, with quadrangular stems a toot 
long. Leaves nearly sessile, oblong or lanceolate, an inch long. 
Flowers 8 together in peduncled cymes from the axils of the leaves, 
subtended by a pair of lanceolate bracts. Calyx-tube £ in. broad and 
long, 8-ribbed. Petals very fugacious. Style as long as the calyx. 
Stamens scarcely exserted from the calyx-tube ; filaments purple ; 
anthers minute, yellow. Capsule round, fragile, immersed in the 
calyx-tube. 
Mauritius, frequent by streamsides. Also Bourbon and Madagascar. 
3. TETBATAXIS, Hook. fil. 
Calyx large, campanulate, acutely tetragonal, with 4 acute teeth. 
Petals absent. Stamens 4, springing from the base of the calyx ; fila- 
ments filiform, exserted ; anthers oblong. Ovary 4-lobed, 4-celled, 
many-ovuled ; placentation axile ; style filiform, long ; stigma capitate, 
