Tas. 6224. 
HYPOESTES ARISTATA. 
Native of South Africa. 
Nat. Ord. ACANTHACE.—Tribe J USTICIEE. 
Genus Hyporsres, Br. (Benth. et Hook. f., Gen. Plant., vol. ii., p. 1122). 
Hyporstes aristata ; pubescens v. villosa, caule erecto ramoso, ramulis 4-gonis, 
foliis petiolatis ovatis acutis integerrimis subtus preecipue pubescenti-pilosis, 
capitulis verticillatis inferioribus axillaribus superioribus subspicatis, 
bracteis foliaceis, involucris ovato-lanceolatis longe aristato-subulatis basi 
eonnatis 1-3-floris calyce multo longioribus hirtis, sepalis subulatis, Coren 
tubo elongato gracili piloso fauce sensim ampliato, labio antico integro 
acuto, postico elliptico ad medium 3-lobato, staminibus labiis dimidio 
brevioribus, styli lobis linearibus recurvis. 
H. aristata, Soland. in Roem. et Sch. Syst., vol. i., p. 140; 
vol. xi., p. 509. 
Nees in DC. Prod., 
H. plumosa, Eckl. et Meyer in Herb. Dregé. 
Justicia aristata, Vahl, Symb., vol. ii, p. 2; Enum., vol. i., p. 110. 
The genus Hypoestes consists of some forty South African, 
Indian, and Australian plants, many of them weedy in habit 
and far from attractive in flower, to which, however, the 
subject of the present plate forms a conspicuous exception, 
being remarkable for its bright purple flowers, which are 
produced in profusion, and are prettily striped and spotted 
on the upper lip. It is a native of extra-tropical South 
Africa, from Algoa Bay to Natal, and is common in 
shrubberies. Nees, in De Candolle’s “Prodromus,” gives 
Delagoa Bay (Forbes) as a habitat ; but this 1s a mistake for 
Algoa Bay, where, as well as in the first-named locality, 
Forbes collected plants for the Horticultural Society in the 
year 1822. It would no doubt form an attractive warm 
greenhouse plant if properly treated as to wintering, for, like 
all Cape plants, it must have a season of almost absolute rest. 
The specimen here figured flowered at Messrs. Veitch’s 
establishment in February, 1874. ; 
Descr. An erect, branched herb, two to three feet high, 
Arn Ist, 1876. 
