DB, T. AIS-DERSOX OX INJ)I\X ACAXTIIACEE, 439 



Western Peninsula, tlie Himalaya, Eastern IBengal, and Bur- 

 mall the largest number of Acanthacea? belong to this subtribe, 

 which may thus be considered the representative of tbe order in 

 Lidia. The entire absence of Strohilanthes from IS'orfchern Hindo- 

 stan and the Lower Gangetic Plain, and the occurrence of only 

 two species in Central India, are facts in the geographical distri- 

 bution of tbe order worthy of notice. The abundance of the 

 tribes Barleriese and Andrographideae, as well as of Strobilanthea?, 

 m the Western Peninsula, and the large proportion of peculiar 

 species of these groups, show that the order acquires its greatest 

 development in that province. 



The genus Ehermaiera is almost confined to Burmah, the Ma- 

 layan Peninsula, and the Khasia Hills, the obscure weed -El 

 glauca and the nearly allied E. Zeylanica being the sole repre- 

 sentatives of this genus in the other regions of India, The 

 species of Hhermaiera are most numerous in Burmah, where 

 twelve have been found, only three of which extend beyond the 

 limits of the province. 



In India Acanthaceae are preeminently inhabitants of the tro- 

 pical and subtropical forests of the hilly districts, and are seldom 

 found at greater elevations on the mountains. The only one 

 that reaches alpine altitudes is Strohilanthes Wallicliii, which in 

 Sikkim rarely occurs below 7500 feet, and is frequent at heights 

 ranging from 8000 to 10,000 feet. I moreover collected many 

 examples of this species in the lofty valley of the Hatong, as the 

 head of the Great Eun^reet Eiver is called, between Jongri and 

 Aloktong, below the glaciers of Kanchinjunga, where the plants 

 grow among thickets of Bhododendron and Lonicera. A remark- 

 able and very local species oiThunbergia (T. lutea, T.Anders.), Stro- 

 oilanthes pectinatus^ uropTiyllus, and divaricates are common in 

 Sikkim from oOOO to 8000 feet; and in the north-western Hima- 

 laya, even so far west as Simlah and Kangra, StrohilaniJies alatiis 

 occurs from 5000 to 7000 feet above the sea, in moist woods of oak, 

 Mies Smithiana, and JPinus excelsa. The only maritime forms in 

 India are Acanthus ilicifoliiis and A, voluliUs : the first of these 

 IS not confined to estuaries communicating with the sea ; it is 

 common near Calcutta along the banks of canals the waters of 

 ■^hich, though they are influenced by the tides, never intermingle 

 ^ith the waters of the sea. 



tixy. PBGC. — BOTAyr, rOL* IX. 2 Q 



