Tap. 8272. 
APHELANDRA TETRAGONA. 
c 
Tropical South America. 
ACANTHACEAE. Tribe APHELANDREAE. 
Apnenanpra, Pt. Br.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen, Plant. vol. ii. p. 1102. 
Aphelandra tetragona, Nees in DC. Prodr. vol. xi. p. 295; ab A. pulcherrima, 
Kunth, quacum olim confusa erat, foliis basi minus decurrentibus subtus 
parce pubescentibus vel fere glabris, minime tomentosis, corollis majoribus 
distincta. 
Fruticans ramis teretibus fistulosis ad 1 cm. crassis glabris. Folia ovato- 
lanceolata vel late ovato-elliptica, basi lata et breviter cuneatim decur- 
rentia vel cuneatim attenuata, apice longiuscula vel breviter acuminata, 
margine leviter undulato-crenata, 20-25 cm. longa, 10-15 cm. lata, 
papyracea, supra glabra, infra in gemma albido-pubescentia, citissime 
glabrescentia; petiolus 4-5 cm. longus. Spicae ad apices ramorum 
1-3-5-nae, terminalis ad 15 em. longa, corollis demptis 1 em. crassae, 
densissimae; bracteae ovatae, acutae vel subacuminatae, 10-12 mm. longae, 
viridi-brunnescentes, subcoriaceae, ima basi albo-lanatae, secundum mar- 
gines villoso-ciliatae, caeterum glabrae, inferne prominule-striatae, 
glandulis obscuris; bracteolae lanceolatae, albo-villosae, 1 cm. longae. 
. Sepala scariosa, lanceolata, acuta, 13 mm. longa, apice subvillosa, Corolla 
pulcherrime coccinea, puberula; tubus supra basin constrictus, deinde 
sensim ad os ampliatus, hic circiter 6-8 mm. latus; labium superum 2 cr 
longum, bifidum, lobis acutissimis 6 mm. longis; labium inferum ex ovato 
longe attenuatum, 22-24 mm. longum, explanatum 9 mm. latum, lobis 
lateralibus ad marginem 2 mm. latum superne in dentulum productr a 
redactis. -Antherae 7 mm. longae, in dorso minute pilosulae,— A. tetragona, 
var. imperialis, Wittmack in Gartenflora, vol. xl. p. 449, t. 1354, Justicia 
tetrayona, Vahl. Symb. vol. iii. p. 5. J. cristata, Jacq. Hort. Schoenbr. 
_-yol. iii. p. 38, t. 320.—O. Srapr. 
Aphelandra tetragona, as here figured, is a native of 
Guiana and Venezuela, which has long been in cultivation 
at Kew. It is, without doubt, the species described by 
Vahl in 1794 as Justicia tetragona, from specimens collected 
by Dr. Rohr near Cayenne, and is exactly the plant figured 
by Jacquin in 1798 as Justicia cristata, though it is some- 
what uncertain as to whether it be the plant figured as 
Aphelandra cristata at t. 1578 of this work. The plant 
SEPTEMBER, 1909. 
