264 
NYCTAGINACEiE. 
[. Pisonia . 
brown-pubescent branchlets ; pedicels 0 or very short ; bracts minute, 
linear-subulate. Perianth x \ ~l in. long, narrowly funnel-shaped, 
densely brown-puberulent, with minute deltoid teeth. Stamens 5-6, 
finally distinctly exserted. Female corymbs much laxer Fruit- 
perianth clavate, not seen fully mature, the ribs not armed with gland- 
tipped bristles. Stigma bifid. Calpidia costata, Bojer, Hort. Maur. 
265. 
Mauritius, in mountain woods of the Pouce range, etc. Endemic. 
4. P. Calpidia, Steud. Nomencl. edit. 2, p. 345. A low erect tree, 
nearly glabrous in all its parts, with corky bark and stout branchlets. 
Leaves alternate or opposite, crowded near the end of the branchlets, 
on in. petioles, the blade oblong, obtuse, 3-4 in. long, rounded or 
cuneate at the base, subcoriaceous, glabrous, with slender ribs. Male 
flowers in dense peduncled terminal and axillary corymbose panicles 
2-3 in. broad, with stout subglabrous branches ; pedicels ^ in- long. 
Perianth £ in. long; the expanded mouth 4 in. broad, with distinct 
deltoid teeth. Stamens 10, shorter than the perianth- lobes. Female 
corymbs much laxer ; pedicels 'finally J-l in. long, erecto-patent. Fruit- 
perianth 2 inches long, smooth, the seed filling only the lower half, and 
the fimbriated stigma just exserted from the tip. Calpidia lanceolata, 
Thouars, PI. Afr. Austr. 37, t. 10 ; Bojer , Hort. Maur. 268. C. ovali- 
folia, Bojer , loc. cit. Pisonia ovalifolia and lanceolata, Choisy in DC. 
Prod. xiii. 2, 441-2. 
Mauritius, in the mountain woods of the Pouce range, etc. C. lanceolata and 
ovalifolia represent two extreme forms of leaf, which are connected by intermediate 
gradations. Endemic. Bois Cassant or Mapou. 
2. BOERHAAVIA, Linn. 
Flowers hermaphrodite. Perianth with lower half greenish-black, 
funnel-shaped, viscose, persistent, the upper half campauulate, corol- 
line, deciduous, with 5 deltoid teeth. Stamens 2-3 ; filaments fili- 
form, as long as the perianth ; anthers globose. Ovary ovoid ; 
style filiform, as loug as the stamens ; stigma capitate. Fruit enclosed 
in the enlarged clavate lower half of the perianth, which is united to 
its testa. — Annual or perennial weedy herbs, with opposite leaves 
and minute panicled flowers. Distrib. Cosmopolitan in the tropics. 
Species 20. 
1. B. diffusa, Linn. ; Choisy in DC. Prod. xiii. 2, 452. A peren- 
nial herb, with densely tufted glabrous terete diffuse stems 2-3 feet 
long. Leaves distant, petioled, ovate, membranous, green on both 
sides, obtuse or acute, in. long, broadly rounded or subcordate 
at the base. Flowers in lax panicles with very slender pubescent 
branches, in clusters of 4-8 together on very short viscose pedicels 
witli minute lanceolate bracts. Perianth Pj in. long, the viscose green 
calycine and pinkish corolline portion of equal size. Accrescent fruit- 
perianth Pj in. long, viscose, narrowed to the base. B. periplocifolia, 
