Asystasia.] CIX. ACANTHACEX. (C. B. Clarke.) 493 
nate, usually solitary, blue purple rose or yellow. Sepalsnarrow. Corolla- 
tube short or long, funnel-shaped ventricose or narrow; lobes 5, subequal, 
imbricate in bud. Stamens 4, all perfect, didynamous, subequal; anthers 
oblong, cells parallel, approximate, base minutely spurred or submuticous, 
the points only obscurely whitened. Ovary 4-ovulate, very hairy ; stigma 
minutely bifid or subcapitate. Capsule elliptic, 4-seeded, base contracted 
solid. Seeds compressed, orbicular or irregularly angular, rugose or tuber- 
cular, glabrous.—Species 15, Tropical Asiatic and S. African. 
The species having only 2 fertile stamens are transferred to Eranthemum, and 
those with large bracts to Lepidagathis. It might be better to sink Asystasia in 
Eranthemum, for many of the species have a long narrow corolla-tube as in Eranthe- 
mum, and the character of the stamens appears of rather less value than in separat- 
ing Hemiadelphis from Hygrophila. 
* Corolla tubular-ventricose, about 2-13 in. long. 
l. A. intrusa, Blume Bijd. 796, not of Nees; leaves ovate or elliptic 
acuminate puberulous above, calyx subsessile glabrous or minutely ciliate, 
corolla $—1 in. tube exceedingly slender. A. Blumei, Nees in DC. Prodr. 
xi. 167. A. nemorum, Nees in Wall. Pl. As. Rar. iii. 90, as to descr. and 
Malay material. 
SINGAPORE ; Schomburgk.—DrtsTRIB. Java. . 
Stems 1 foot, dichotomous, slender, nearly glabrous. Leaves 2 by j in., base 
cuneate or rhomboid, undulate, subcrenate, dotted with most minute hairs above, 
glabrous beneath ; nerves 5-6 pair; petiole 4 in. Spikes 1-2 in., slender ; flowers 
mostly Opposite; bracts scarcely dy in.; lowest pedicels subobsolete. Calyz } in.; 
Segments linear-lanceolate, glabrous on the back. Corolla glabrous; tube hardly 
5i in. diam. ; limb hardly à in. in expanse. Stamens 4, nearly equal. Style nearly 
glabrous; stigma subcapitate. Capsule } in., 4-seeded, minutely hairy.—This differs 
from A. coromandeliana (and its allies) in the very slender corolla; the tube is 
widened only near its apex, and is there scarcely à in. broad. 
2. A. coromandeliana, Nees in Wall. Pl. As. Rar. n. 89, and in 
DC. Prodr. xi. 165; grey puberulous, leaves ovate acute some rounded or 
suddenly narrowed at base, lower pedicels manifest, corolla 1-14 in. inflated 
Part of the tube much longer than its cylindric base. Dalz. 4 Gibs. Bomb. 
FL]86. A. plumbaginea, Nees in Wall. Pl. As. Rar. iii. 89, andin DC. 
Prodr. xi. 164. A. gangetica, T. Anders. in Thwaites Enum, 235. A. 
Violacea, Bot. Mag. t. 5882. Justicia Gangetica, Linn. Amen. Acad. iv. 
299. J. plumbaginea, Wall. Cat. 2487. Ruellia secunda, Vahl Symb. in. 
84; Wall. Cat. 9401. R. Digitalis, Koen.; Spreng. Syst. ii. 825; Nees l. c. 
7.153. R. zeylanica, Koen.; Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 42. R. Coromandeliana, 
Wall. Cat. 2399, partly.—Rheede Hort. Mal. ix. t. 45. 
Deccan PENINSULA and CEYLON, common.—DisTRIB. Malaya, Africa, Arabia. 
A procumbent, perennial weed, 1-2 ft., usually dusky pubescent. Leaves 
l-1} in., lower mostly subcordate, base rounded or suddenly narrowed; nerves 5-6 
Par; petiole lin. Racemes 2-5 in., lax ; lower pedicels often attaining 4 in.; bract 
and bracteoles at the base of the pedicel, about |, in. Sepals j in., linear-Janceotate, 
puberulous or pubescent on the back. Corolla pubescent; tube yellow, limb pink or 
pale purple, usually dull or lurid, sometimes yellow altogether. — Filaments with few 
small hairs, Style glabrous except near the base. Capsule 1 in., pubescent ; soli 
cylindric compressed base lin. Seeds jin. diam., much compressed, ovoid angular 
Wrinkled or subtubercular glabrous. 
p o, A. chelonoides, Nees in Wall. Pl. As. 
rodr, xi, 164; leaves elliptic narrowed at both en 
Rar. iii. 89, and in DC. 
ds minutely hairy or 
