DIINDRIA. MONOGYNIA. H 



valves half-septiferous, or half nf the dissepi- 

 ment adiiering to eacli valve after the opening 

 of the capsule, and thence semibilocular; one of 

 the noost remarkable characters of the Natural 

 Order Acanthi of Jussieu. 



Stemless perennials, producing- scapes entirely vested 

 with subulate coriaceous and almost imbricate bractes; 

 bearing- flowers towards the summit; flowers imbricate, 

 and bibracteolate, a little ringent. A genus nearly allied 

 to Justicia. 



Species. 1. E. Carolmiensis. There are also 2 other 

 species m India. In the E. imbricata the bracteal scales are 

 3-toothed. 



3 8. JUSTICIA. X. 



Calix 5 parted or 5-cleft, often with 3 bractes. 

 Tube of the Corolla gibbous; border bilabiate; 

 the upiier\\\i eniarginate, the lower trifid. Fila- 

 ments 2, each with a single or double anther. 

 Stigma 1. Capsule attenuated, below opening 

 with an elastic spring from the summit to the 

 base. Dissepiment contrary, growing from the 

 centre of each valve. Seeds few, lenticular. 



Herbaceous or shrubby, leaves rarely verticillate, and 

 still more rarely alternate; a few have axillary spines; 

 flowers solitary or spiked, axillary or terminal. The spe- 

 cies in the United States have opposite leaves, with short 

 spikes upon long, axillary, peduncles, and are subaquatic, 

 usually along the margins of the larger rivers, or in ditches 

 in their vicinity. 



Species. 1. J. pedunculosa. 2. humlis. 3. brachiata of 

 PuRSH. All ihe North American species produce 2 

 anthers upon each filament, each anther l-cel!ed; hence 

 wmny species of this extensive genus were thrown into 

 another called Dianthera by Linnaeus and Jussieu. They 

 are, however, at present uiuted. 



Obs. Not a species of ihis extensive genus exists in 

 Europe; they are, in general, tropical plants, many of them 

 splendid. Of lOO species 3 only are as yet discovered in- 

 digenous to the United States, — o5 in li.dia and its islands 

 — 8 in Arabia Felix — 3 in C:;ina, of which one is also com- 

 mon to Arabia — 1 in Japan — 5 in Africa, 4 of them at the 

 Cape of Gpod Hope and 1 at Sierra Leone — 1 in New Hoi- 



