Tas. 4441, 
THYRSACANTHUS  spracreouartus. 
Bracteolated Thyrsacanthus. 
Nat. Ord. AcANTHACEH.—DIANDRIA MoNnoGYNIA. 
Gen. Char. (Vide supra, Tas. 4878.) 
THYRSACANTHUS bracteolatus ; suffruticosus glaber, caule tetragono, foliis lan- 
ceolatis acuminatis sessilibus, panicula terminali brevi thyrsoidea, ramis 
pseudo-verticillatis bracteatis, corolla elongato-subinfundibuliformi limbi 
oblique subregularis jprofwnde divisi, laciniis elongatis lineari-oblongis, 
staminibus exsertis sterilibus subulatis brevissimis. 
THYRSACANTHUS bracteolatus. Nees, in De Cand. Prodr. v.11. p. 325. 
Justrota bracteolata. Jacg. Coll. v.3. p.253. Ie. Rar. v.2. t.205. Vahl, 
Enum. v.1. p. 128. 
OvonTonEeMA lucidum. Nees, in Linnea, v.16. p. 300. (excl. syn, Andr.) 
A plant originally referred by Jacquin to Justicia, but 
evidently of the same genus of Acanthacee as that figured 
at Tab. 4378, resembling it in many respects. It differs in the 
much narrower and truly lanceolate leaves, and still more in 
the very different inflorescence, and in the deep and narrow 
divisions of the limb of the corolla. It inhabits New Grenada 
and the West Indian Islands, and is here figured from plants 
reared in the stove of the Royal Gardens from seeds sent by. 
Mr. Purdie from Jamaica. 
Descr. Stem two to three feet high, four-angled, dark purple- 
brown. Leaves opposite, five or six inches long, nearly sessile, 
lanceolate, entire, slightly undulate, penninerved, acuminated. 
Panicle thyrsoid, terminal, obtuse. Branches pseudo-verticillate, 
slender, again divided and bearing several small, opposite, linear- 
oval bracteoles. Calyx small, naked, the five subulate segments 
equal. Corolla scarlet, in our specimens an inch and a half long; 
tube slender, narrow below, bent down as it were at an angle in 
the middle, and from that point funnel-shaped ; the limb 
unequal, two-lipped, deeply divided into five long, narrow, 
_ Spreading segments, sprinkled with glandular dots. Stamens 
slightly exserted, except the two sterile ones, which are quite 
MAY lst, 1849, F 
