NEH' INDIAy SCROriLULAltlACEA!:, 426 



Our reasons for reducing L. polyantha to L. urtic(^folia are these : 



(a) No distinguishing character of value can bo found in the various 

 descriptions pubhshtd. 



{b) There is an unbroken chain of intermediate forms uniting the two old 

 species. There are ovun spuciinens which, in their ditferent parts, exhibit 

 characters of both the old species. 



(c) The various descriptions of the plants are often contradictory, which 

 seems to indicate that the Botanists concerned found it dilhcult to sharply 

 separate the two species. Beuthaiu, v.y , says that the corollas in both 

 species are glabrous. Hooker f. (Fl. Brit. Ind. IV, 2tJ2) gives the corolla of 

 Jj. urtic'efoUa as sparsely hairy, while Cooke (Fl. B. Fres. II, 3U7) states 

 that both plants have a hairy corolla, and gives a detailed description of 

 the epiilermal appendages, with which our specimens agree. Siimilarly 

 Bentham says that the ovary is glabrous in both, which is contradicted by 

 Hooker and Cooke. 



As regards L. polyantha, it does not even deserve varietal rank. Several 

 of our specimens could, with much better reason, be regarded as belonging 

 to distinct varieties; but as intermediate forms between them are likely to 

 be obtained in future, we confine ourselves at present to enumerating the 

 following forms : — 



(1) The form as described by Cooke under L. urticcefolia : herbaceous, 

 slender lU-20cm. high, stem brittle, villous. Leaves large, broad, up to 

 6x2-5cm. petioles up to locm. Serratures very coarse, absent in the lower 

 part of the leaf. Flowers solitary, axillary, far apart. Locality : Bombay 

 Island, common (Nus. \o&2, 15(33, Io(J4), Bassein (JNos. 1565, 1724), Cvitch 

 (No. 1566). Generally growing on walls. 



(2) Small stunted half shrubby, woody below, st»m brittle, branches 

 villous. Leaves much smaller and closer together. Locality : Khandesh 

 (No. 1567), Cutch (No. 1568). Generally growing on rocks. 



(3) Large, much-branched, half shrubby, woody below, stem brittle, 

 villous. Plant reaching 60cm. Leaves like form (1). Locality: Karanja 

 Island (No. 1569), Koad up to Mt. Abu (Nos. 1570, 1571). Generally 

 growing on sandy soil, road banks, etc. 



(4) Herbaceous, very slender, sparsely branched or with simple, flexuose, 

 slightly hairy stem. Leaves similar to form (1). but glabrate, very thin, 

 membranous. This i« the common Mt. Abu form (Nos. 1..7i^, 157a), general- 

 ly growing in moist, stony places or on cultivated ground. Also found in 

 Khandesh in the bed of the Tapti river (No. 1574). 



(6) Stem slender, up to 15cm. simple, flexuose, pubescent, flower-bear- 

 in<T down to the ground ; internodes short. Leaves (bracts) much smaller 

 than in any of the preceding ones, but longer than the calyx, the longest 

 attaining 15 x 5mm. with a petiole 6mm. long, pubescent; upper leaves 

 elliptic-lanceolate, .serratures shallow. Calyx in flower only amm. long, 

 pubescent, enlarged in fruit. Corolla 6mm. Locality : Road up to Mt. Abu 

 (No. 1575). Similar specimens with more or less branched stem from 

 Igatpuri (No. 1576) and Cutch (No. 1577). Another specimen from Igat- 

 puri ^No. 1729) has leaves 25 x 9mm. with a petiole 7mm. long. 



(6) Stem very stout, woody below, brittle, tubercled. Branches diffuse, 

 villous, straggling. Leaves and bracts sparsely hairy, ovate-elliptic, 

 reaching 7 X^cm. narrowed into a pubescent petiole 2-5cm. long. Serra, 

 tures close, absent in the lower third of the leaf. Calyx 7mm. in flower- 

 pubescent. Corolla about 15mm. long. Locality : Khandesh, bank of the 

 Tapti river (No. 1578). A much more slender specimen of a similar habit 

 from the same locality (No. 1579). 



