Ste?n shrubby : branches erect, simple, appearing as if 

 jointed from the intumescence just above the insertion of the 

 leaves. Leaves opposite, decussate, oval, smooth, pointed at 

 both extremities, quite entire, somewhat rigid and recurved. 

 Flowers in a terminal four-cornered imbricated spike. Bractes 

 oval, ciliated, terminated with a soft mucro, turning purple 

 towards the point. Calyx 4-parted : leaflets subulate, finely 

 pubescent. Tube of corolla long curved : limb bilabiate : 

 upper lip linear, emarginate, bent back : lower lip 3-lobed : 

 middle lobe broader oval than the lateral ones. The corolla 

 is white, but changes to a pale green in fading ; scentless. 

 Stamens two : filaments inserted into the superior part of the 

 tube : anthers parallel. Germen conical, supported on a 

 fleshy receptacle : style the length of the tube : stigma 

 capitate. 



Linnaeus, who has described only twenty species in his 

 Species Plantarium, divided these into two genera, naming 

 one Dianthera from the circumstance of each filament bear- 

 ing two anthers, one above the other; Jacquin and Vahl 

 have united them into one genus ; which however is so 

 numerous as to require subdivision ; the latter author having 

 enumerated no less than one hundred and forty-seven species, 

 though he separated the stemless species under the name of 

 Elytraria. The first edition of Aiton's Hortus Kewensis 

 contains only nine species, and the last but twenty-eight. 



Justicia Ecbolium is a native of the East-Indies. Requires 

 to be kept in the stove. Cultivated by Philip Miller in 

 1759. Propagated by cuttings. Communicated by John 

 Walker, Esq. of Arno's-Grove, in July 1815. Flowers 

 most part of the summer. 



