240 ACANTHUS FAMILY. 



1. Twining tropical herbs (or cult, as herbs), with nearly regular Z-kbed corolla, 



and ylobnliir seeds supported by a cartilaginous riny or shallmc cup. 

 1. THUXI'.KIMIIA. Flowers enclosed when in laid l.y a pair of lar<;e leaf-like 

 bractlets borne below the short cup-shaped calyx. Corolla with a mu-tly 

 somewliat curved tube and an abruptly wide-spreading border of 6 rounded 

 equal lobes, convolute in the bud.' Stamens 4. included. I J od globular, 

 tipped with H long and conspicuous flattened beak, 2-4-seeded. Peduncles 

 axillary, 1-flowered. 



2. Erect or spreading : all the folbntring are herbs, with fiat seeds borne on hook- 

 like processes (retinucula) : calyx l-li-parted, mostly '2-bractcd. 



t. ACANTHI'S. Corolla of one 3-lobed lip, the upper lip wanting- Stamens 4, 

 with one-celled ciliate anthers. Leaves pinnatifid. Flowers in a spiki-. 



8. RUKLLIA. Corolla funnel-fonn, with an almost equally 5-l.i sading 



border, convolute in the bud. Stamens 4, included: cells of the anthers 

 parallel. Pod narrow, contracted into a stalk-like ba.-e, above 4- 12-seeded. 



4. DICLIPTKKA. Corolla 2-lipped, the lower lip 3-lubed, the upper 2-cleft or 



entire; but the (lower as it were reversed so that the 3-lobed lip seems to be 

 the upper one. Stamens 2, protruded: cells of the anther equal, but one 

 placed below the other. Pod 2-4-seeded below the middle. 



5. D1ANT11KKA. Corolla 2-lipped, the upper lip erect and notched; the lower 



3-lobed, wrinkled or veiny towards the base, spreading. Stamens 2: cells of 

 the anther one below the other, mostly unequal. Pod flattened above, con- 

 tracted into a stalk-like base, 4-seeded above the middle. 



1. THUNBERGIA. (Named from the Swedish botanist Thunberg.) 

 Showy flowers produced all summer. 



T. alata (so named from its winged petioles) from Africa, is the one com- 

 monly cultivated (as an annual) in many varieties as to size and color of flower, 

 buff, orange, white, &c., usually with blackish-purple eye ; herbage soft-downy 

 or hairy ; leaves between heart-shaped and arrow-shaped. 2/ 



2. ACANTHUS. (Old Greek and Latin name, from the word for spine or 

 prickle.) 11 



A. mollis, one of the classical species, from S. Eu., is occasionally cult., not 

 hardy N. : the broad sinuately and deeply pinnatilid leaves mostly from the root, 

 hardly at all prickly ; flowers on a short vscape, dull-colored. 



3. RUELLIA. (Named for the herbalist Ruelle.) Ours are wild herbs, 

 chicrlv southern, with purple or blue showy flowers, mostly in clusters, 

 produced all summer. 2/ 



1. Cell a of the anther pointed at base : stiyma only one : pod ^-seeded. 



R. oblongifolia. Pine ham us S. : downy, f>'-12' high from a creeping 

 ba.-e, with nearly sessile oval leaves barely I' long, almost bristle-shaped sepals, 

 but oblong bracts, and spotted purple, corolla 1' long. 



2. Cells of the anther blunt : stigmas 2 : ]><l S - 1 2-wded : strms 1 - 4 hiyh. 



R. cili6sa. Drv soil \V. & S. : clothed with soft white hairs, the oval or 

 oblong leaves nearly sessile, pale blue corolla (about 2' long) with slender tube 

 much longer than the inflated upper part anil than the brittle-shaped sepals. 



R. StrdpenS. Richer soil, 1'rom 1'enn. \V. X: S. : smooth or slightly downy, 

 with obovate or oblong leaves (l'-4 7 long) narrowed into a petiole, and purple- 

 blue corolla (l'-2' long) with tube hardly longer than the expanded portion or 

 than the linear-lanceolate sepals. 



4. DICLIPTERA. (Greek words for dmt'Si-, >/////, from the 2-valved pod.) 

 D. brachiata, of low banks S. is nearly smooth, with 6-angled stem bear- 

 ing many branches, thin ovate-oblong pointed leaves on slender petiole, and 

 interrupted spike-like clusters of small puq>le flowers, each with a pair of con- 

 spicuous flat bracts. 2/ 



