Drscr. Roof fibrous. Stem from a span to a foot high, dark 
purple, herbaceous, slightly hairy, erect, decumbent only at the 
very base. Leaves opposite, petioled, ovate, acuminate, one of 
each pair usually smaller than the opposite one, the margins 
coarsely serrated, the surface rugose with reticulated depressed 
veins. Peduncles solitary, axillary, single-flowered, generally 
having a minute pair of opposite minute bracteas near the base. 
Calyx superior, of five, deep, subulate-lanceolate, erect, slightly 
ciliated lobes. Corolla rich scarlet, glabrous (yellow within the 
tube) ; the tube between cylindrical and funnel-shaped, slightly 
curved, and slightly gibbous at the base above. Limdé of five, 
spreading, equal, rounded, waved and crenulated lobes. Sta- 
mens four, didynamous. Filaments inserted at the base of the 
tube of the corolla, and nearly equal to it in length, and a fifth 
abortive, subulate, very short filament. Ovary turbinate, united 
with the tube of the calyx. Sfy/e filiform, as long as the stamens; 
at its base is a five-lobed annular gland. Stigma two-lobed. 
Fig. 1. Corolla laid open. 2. Ovary and style and portion of the calyx :— 
