Sjpermacoce.'] 
RTTBIACEiE. 
159 
— Herbs, with sheathing fringed stipules and minute flowers, which, in 
our species are clustered in axillary whorls. Distrib. Abundant 
tropical weeds, mostly American. Species 100-150. 
Section 1, Sperhacoce proper. Dissepiment of the capsule not 
divided between the two cocci when they separate. 
The only species 1. S. hispid a. 
Section 2, Borreria. Dissepiment of capsule split into two mem- 
branes when it opens, one to each coccus. 
Fruit pilose all over ; leaves linear or lanceolate .... 2. S. stricta. 
Fruit not pilose ; leaves obovate or oblong 3. S ocymoides. 
1. S. hispida, Linn.; JDC. Prod. iv. 555. A branched annual, a 
foot or more high, with rather stout more or less hairy quadrangular 
branches. Leaves narrowed to the base, stout, and more or less hairy, 
varying in shape from obtuse obovate-spathulate to acute lanceolate ; 
stipules in. long, fringed with bristles quite as long as the blade. 
Blowers 2-6, crowded in the axils of each of the leaves. Capsule 
oblong, f- in. long, pilose ; teeth lanceolate, persistent, as long as the 
capsule. Corolla -§ in. long ; lobes as long as the tube. Burnt. Zeyl. t. 
20, Jig. 3. S. articularis, Linn. fil. S. scabra, Willd. 
Mauritius, frequent in waste grounds through the island. Spread through the 
tropics of the Old World. Also Cape. 
2. S. stricta, Linn.jil. ; DC. Prod. iv. 554. Stems a foot or more 
high, simple or branched, erect, angular, glabrous. Leaves sessile, 
distant, linear, or lanceolate, firm, 1-3 in. long, acute, narrowed to the 
base, scabrous on the ribs below ; stipules i in. long, ciliated by bristles 
as long as the blade. Flowers in very dense axillary clusters. 
Capsule subglobose, in. deep, pilose ; teeth 4, deltoid, aristate, 
shorter than the fruit. Corolla purplish, funnel-shaped, in. long ; 
lobes short. S. flagelliformis, Poir. ; DC. Prod. loc. cit. S. muricu- 
lata, DC. Prod. loc. cit. Borreria lasiocarpa, Wt. and Am. B. hebe- 
carpa, Hochst. 
Mauritius, frequent in waste ground. Everywhere in the tropics of the Old 
World. Allied to the common American Borreria verticillata. 
3. S. ocymoides, Burm. PI. Ind. tab. 13, Jig. 1. A diffuse low 
annual, with slender quadrangular stems, glabrous throughout or 
obscurely pilose upwards. Leaves nearly or quite glabrous, oblong, 
sessile, membranous, acute, 1-lf in. long ; stipules in. long, ciliated 
with bristles quite as long as the blade. Flowers in very dense axillary 
clusters. Capsule globose, not more than in- long, subglabrous ; 
teeth deltoid, aristate, as long as the tube, 4, rarely 5, two often 
smaller. Corolla purplish, ± in. long ; lobes short. Borreria ocymoides, 
DC. Prod. iv. 544. Spermacoce Boxburghiana, Wall. Cat. Po. 6186. 
Borreria ramisparsa, DC. loc. cit. 
Mauritius, in waste ground. Cosmopolitan in the tropic*. 
