292° LABIATA (Cooke). [ Pycnostachys. 
8. P. purpurascens (Briq.in Bull. Herb. Boiss. 2™° sér. iii. 998) ; 
a herb 2-3 ft. (or more ?) high ; stem simple and with only 1 flower- 
spike or paniculately branched with 3 to several spikes, obtusely 
4-angled or terete, with 6-8 ribs, thinly to densely adpressed- 
puberulous with very minute reflexed hairs ; leaves opposite or 3 in 
a whorl, ascending or spreading, 2—5 in. long, 4-1} in. broad, linear- 
lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, acute, tapering from below the 
middle to the sessile base, serrate, some of the upper leaves nearly 
entire, glabrous or thinly sprinkled with microscopic hairs on both 
sides and more densely on the veins beneath ; secondary veins 
obliquely ascending (not horizontal) ; flower-spike 1-3} in. long and 
including the corollas 1-11 in. in diam. when dried; bracts 
deflexed, 3-5 lin. long, linear-lanceolate and acuminate or linear- 
subulate, ciliolate; calyx-tube } lin. long and cup-like when in 
flower, elongating to 2 lin. long and gibbous on the lower side at the 
base in fruit ; teeth 2—3 lin. long, spine-like, puberulous, with small 
membranous lobules between them, closing the mouth of the tube 
whilst the seeds are maturing, spreading outwards when they ripen ; 
corolla abruptly bent at about the middle of the tube, thinly or 
thickly puberulous outside on the upper part, pale pink or rosy- 
purple (Tyson) ; tube 4—5 lin. long when measured along the bend, 
very slender at the basal half, abruptly dilating to 1} lin. in vertical 
diam. at the upper part; upper lip 1 lin. long, 3-toothed ; lower lip 
2-21 lin. long, boat-shaped, curved ; nutlets }— lin. long, oblong or 
elliptic-oblong, flattened on the back, keeled down the inner face, 
smooth, at first pale brown, finally dark brown. P. Schlechteri, 
Briq. le. 999. P. holophylla, Brig. lec. 1000. P. reticulata, var. 
angustifolia, Benth. in DC. Prodr. xii, 83, as to description and 
Burke’s specimen. 
Kaanart Recion: Orange River Colony, Cooper, 1070! Transvaal ; Magalies- 
berg Range, Burke, 111; Pilgrims Rest, Roe in Herb. Bolus, 2647 ! Aapies Poort 
and River, near Pretoria, Rehmann, 4111! Miss Leendertz, 1108! Woodbush 
mountains, Nelson, 438! near Johannesburg, Z.S.C.A. Herb. 347 (or 847 ?)! near 
Barberton, Galpin, 1318! Thorncroft, 4844! Elandspruit Mountains, Schlechter, 
3884! Witwatersrand, Mrs. Hutton, 878! near Lydenburg, Wilms, 1122! Spitzkop 
Goldmine, Wilms, 1122b! 
Eastern Recron: Griqualand East; by mountain streams near Clydesdale, 
Tyson, 2753! and in MacOwan & Bolus, Herb. Norm., 859! near Mount Frere, 
Schlechter, 6406 ! 
The three specimens which Briquet has described as three distinct species have 
been examined and dissected and found to be identical. Of the five characters 
mentioned as distinguishing them—the purple colour is the result of sun-exposure ; 
the closed or open mouth of the calyx and colour of the nutlets are conditions 
varying with the maturing of the seeds, both forms of calyx and colours of nutlets 
may be found on the same spike ; the size of the corolla, &Xc., is variable according 
to the vigour of the specimen and other causes, as in most Labiate, and the 
toothing and pubescence of the leaves is nearly the same in all. P. purpurascens is 
very closely allied to P. reticulata, but is readily distinguished by its narrower and 
more glabrous leaves, whilst the flowers are stated to be different in colour. 
