Tab. 6947. 

 STROBILANTHES flaccidifolius. 



Native of India and China. 



Nat. Ord. Acanthace.e. — Tribe Ruellie^:. 

 Genus Steobilanthes, Blume; (Benth. et Hooh.f. Gen. PI. vol. ii. p. 1086.) 



Steobilanthes flaccidifolius j frutex erectus ramosus, ramis obscure incano- 

 puberulis, foliis oppositis elliptico-ovatis -lanceolatisve acuminatis serratis 

 glaberrimis basi sensim in petiolum angustatis, floribus in spicas breves 

 paucifloras v. subelongatas dispositis, bracteis foliaceis subspathulatis obtusis 

 caducis, calycis puberuli segmentis 4 linearibus postico latiore lineari-oblongo, 

 corolla? 2-pollicaris purpurea? tubo late infundibulari infra medium curvo, lobis 

 brevibus sequalibus 2-lobulatis, staminibus 4, ovario glabro, stylo puberulo, 

 capsula basi non constricta. 



S. fiaccidifolius, Nees in DC. Prodr. vol. xi. p. 194; T. Anders. inJourn. Linn. 

 Soc. vol. ix. p. 481 ; Clarke in Fl. Brit. Ind. vol. iv. p. 468. 



S. Championi, T. Anders, in Benth. Fl. HongJc. p. 261. 



S. flaccidus, Mann, Assam Forest Report, 1876-7, par. 135. 



Ruellia indigofera, Griffith Journ. of Trav. in India, p. 237 



R. indigotica, Fortune, Besid. in China, p. 158. 



R. Cusia, Ham. in Wall. Cat. 2386. 



Goldfussia Cusia, Nees in Wall. PI. As. Bar. vol. iii. p. 88, and in DC. I. c. 

 175. 



Dipteeacanthus ? calycinus, Champ, in Hook. Kew Journ. Bot. vol. v. p. 133. 



S. fiaccidifolius is the plant which yields in India and 

 China the well-known blue dye called in the former 

 country Eoom and Assam Indigo. The best account of it 

 is Fortune's, in the work cited above. His description is 

 far too long for being introduced in this work, and the 

 following are the most important items of information 

 which it contains. In the province of Chekiang, and on 

 the mountains westward of Ningpo, and thence westward 

 to Assam and Bengal, the Strobilanthes is extensively 

 cultivated, but only as a summer crop in Chekiang, where 

 it is not hardy, being native of a more southern latitude in 

 China. It is planted when the spring frosts are over, and 

 it is cut down in autumn, after attaining eighteen inches 

 in height, when cuttings are taken for the following years' 

 crops. The leaves are then stripped from the stems, and 



JULY 1st, 1887. 



