Sebaea. | GENTIANACEAE. 723 
Family LXXXVI. GENTIANACEAE. 
Annual or perennial herbs, rarely shrubs, usually glabrous and bitter. 
Leaves opposite, rarely alternate or whorled, nearly always simple and 
entire; stipules wanting. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite, solitary or 
cymose. Calyx inferior, 4-5-lobed or -partite, lobes imbricate. Corolla 
gamopetalous, hypogynous, 4-5-lobed or -partite, lobes twisted to the 
right (valvate in Liparophyllum). Stamens 4-5, inserted on the throat or 
tube of the corolla and alternate with its lobes ; filaments filiform or dilated 
at the base; anthers 2-celled, introrse. Ovary superior, 1-celled, or 2-celled 
by the meeting of 2 intruded parietal placentas; style single, short or 
long; stigma entire or 2-lobed or 2-lamellate ; ovules numerous in each 
cell. Fruit a 1- or 2-celled capsule with septicidal dehiscence, rarely fleshy 
or indehiscent. Seeds numerous, small; albumen copious, fleshy ; embryo 
minute. 
A large and very natural family, found nearly all over the world, but most abundant 
in the mountainous regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Genera about 75 ; species 
estimated at 750, almost without exception possessing bitter and tonic properties. The 
yellow gentian (Gentiana lutea) produces gentian-root, one of the earliest-known medi- 
cines, and still frequently used. Other species of Gentiana and of the allied genera 
Erythrea, Chlora, Frasera, Sabbatia, &c., have very similar qualities. Of the 3 genera 
found in New Zealand, Gentiana has the range of the whole family; Sebaea occurs in 
Australia, eastern Asia, and South Africa ; while Liparophyllum is confined to Tasmania 
and New Zealand. 
* Leaves opposite. Corolla-lobes contorted in bud. 
Flowers small. Corolla cylindric; lobes spreading. Ovary 
2-celled. Style deciduous t Py ap .. 1. SEBAEA. 
Flowers large. Corolla campanulate or rotate. Ovary 1-celled. 
Style persistent .. 2. GENTIANA. 
** Leaves alternate or tufted. Corolla-lobes induplicate-valvate. 
Small herb with linear tufted leaves. Fruit fleshy 7 .. 3. LIPAROPHYLLUM. 
1. SEBAEA R. Br. |¥'o 
Erect glabrous annual herbs. Leaves small, opposite, sessile. Flowers 
small, yellow, in terminal dichotomous cymes. Calyx 4-5-partite ; segments 
often keeled or winged. Corolla-tube cylindric ; lobes 4-5, spreading, con- 
torted in the bud. Stamens 4-5, affixed to the throat or tube of the corolla ; 
filaments short ; anthers oblong, introrse, straight or recurved at the tips. 
Qvary completely 2-celled, placentas large, adnate to the septum; style 
filiform ; stigma clavate or capitate. Capsule globose or ovoid, septicidally 
2-valved. Seeds numerous, minute ; testa reticulated. 
A genus comprising about 50 species, found in tropical and southern Africa, Mada- 
gascar, the Himalayas, Australia, and New Zealand. The single New Zealand species 
is also Australian. 
1. S. ovata R. Br. Prodr. (1810) 452.— A simple or sparingly branched 
annual herb 4-8in. high; stems 4-angled. Leaves few, in distant pairs, 
sessile, +-Lin. long, broadly ovate or orbicular-ovate, obtuse or subacute. 
Flowers small, in. long, pale-yellow, in a terminal dichotomous cyme, 
with a flower in each axil. Calyx-segments 5, ovate-lanceolate, acute, 
keeled. Corolla with a long straight tube and 5 short lobes which are 
twisted after flowering. Anthers linear-oblong, with a gland at the tip. 
