BiGNOMALES.] 



ACANTHACE^. 



679 



An elaborate account of this Order has been published by Professor Nees v. Esenbeck, 

 in his Dissertation upon the Indian species of Dr. Wallich's Herbarium, in the work above 

 quoted. It is there that tlie mass of genera was first revised, their limits investigated, 

 and a natm-al arrangement of them proposed. This eminent Botanist adopts the opinion 

 of Dr. Brown, that among Acanthads the most valuable of all characters resides in the 

 placental processes, and accordingly his three great tribes are defined thus: — I. Thun- 

 hergiecB : Processes expanded into a horny cup and adnate to the seed, which they support. 

 II. NeUoniecB : Processes contracted into a papilla which bears (not carries) the seed. 

 Seeds small and pitted. III. Echmatacanthi : Seeds supported by hooked processes. 

 The suboi'dinate cli\'isions are formed upon considerations connected with the form of 

 the corolla, the number of stamens, the condition of the anther, &c. ; and here he differs 

 widely from Dr. Bro\\Ti in his estimate of the relative value of characters. A second 

 aiTangement has been since proposed by Professor Meisner, who attaches less import- 

 ance to the placental processes, and adds two tribes called Russeggerese and Mendozieae. 

 He truly observes that there are few natural Ordei's which now demand, in so eminent a 

 degree, a seai'chmg investigation as that of Acanthads. Professor Nees v. Esenbeck 

 chiefly occupied himself with Indian species : but the crowds of Africans and Americans 

 which load the shelves of all large herbaria, attest how small a proportion the former 

 bear to the whole of the Order. 



Professor Nees v. Esenbeck entertains the opinion that the fniit of Acanthads consists 

 of 4 carpels, alternate with the sepals, a fifth, answering to the space between the two 

 lower sepals, being constantly deficient. He says that their union may be easily dis- 

 covered when they are very young, and that each has its own midrib and three wavy 

 veins at its base ; he compares these carpels to the bractlet of Adhatoda Betonica, and 

 he states that the placentae of the upper edge of the upper carpellary leaves, and of the 

 lower edge of the lower, are constantly imperfect. — Wallich Pi. As. Rar. iii. p. 73. 



Acanthads are almost entirely tropical, and in such regions extremely common, con- 

 stituting in fact a large part of the weedy herbage. It is only in some rare instances 

 that they advance far to the north, as in the genus Acanthus fovmd in Greece, and in a 

 few species inhabiting the United States. 



They are of very slender importance to man. The greater part are mere weeds ; 

 many, however, are plants of great beauty, especially the species of Justicia, Aphelan- 

 dra, and Ruelha. For the most part they are mucilaginous and shghtly bitter ; occa- 

 sionally the bitterness increases, and they become pectoral medicines ; some are dyers' 

 plants. The genuine Acanths, foi'merly called Brancm"sines, whose beautifiilly-lobed 

 and sinuated leaves furnished the noble ornament of the Corinthian capital, are emol- 

 lients ; so is Justicia biflora, an Egyptian plant. The flowers, leaves, and fruits of 

 Adhatoda are bitterish, subaromatic, and said to be antispasmodic. Justicia pectoralis, 

 boiled in sugar, yields a sweet-scented syrup, which is considered in Jamaica a stomachic. 

 The leaves and stalks of Gendarussa -vulgaris have, when rubbed, a strong and not 

 unpleasant smell, and are, after being roasted, prescribed in India in cases of chronic 

 rheumatism, attended with swelling in the joints. The basis of a famous French bitter 

 tincture, called Drogue amere, highly valued for its stomachic and tonic properties, is the 

 Justicia paniculata, called Creyat in India. The leaves of Ruelha strepens are subacrid. 

 Justicia Ecbohum is one of the dim'etics. A valuable deep-blue dye, called Room, is 

 obtained in Assam from a species of Ruelha. — Griffith in Joiuii. As. Soc, May, 1837, 

 p. 326. 



GENERA. 



I. THUNBERGE^. 



Thunbergia, Linn. 



Diplocalymma, Spren. 



Flemingia, Ham. 

 Meyenia, Nees. 

 Hexacentris, Nees. 

 Mendozia, Velloz. 



Mendoncia, Veil. 



II. NELSONEiE. 



Elytraria, Vahl. 

 Nelsonia, R. Br. 

 Adenosma, R. Br. 

 Ebermeyera, Nees. 

 Erj-thracanthus, Nees. 

 Gymnacanthus, Nees. 



III. ECHMATACAN- 

 THI. 

 Hygrophilid^. 

 Ilemiadelphis, Nees. 

 Physichilus,i^'<:f5. 

 Hygrophila, R. Br. 



Nomaphila, Blum. 

 Polyechma, Hochst. 



Rlellid.e. 



Dyschoriste, Nees. 

 Chsetacanthus, Nees. 

 Dipteracanthus, Nees. 

 Dizygandra, Meisner. 

 Aphragmia, Nees. 

 Petalidium, Nees. 

 Calophanes, Don. 

 Micr;ea, Miers. 

 Salpixanthus, Hooker. 

 Ruellia, Linn. 

 Phlebophjllum, Nees. 

 Butersea, Nees. 

 Adenacanthufs, Nees. 

 Stephanophysum, Pohl. 

 Stenosiphonium, Nees. 

 Strobilanthes, Blum. 



Ptcracanthus, Nees. 



Apopedania, Bl. 



Sympagis, Nees. 

 Stenandrium, Nees. 



^chmanthera, Nees. 

 Goldfussia, Nees. 

 Asystasia, Blum. 

 Crj-phiacanthus, Nees. 

 Echinacanthus, Nees. 

 Leptacanthus, Nees. 

 Trichanthera, Kunth. 



Barlerid^. 



Asteracantha, Nees. 



Tenoria, Uenh. 

 Barleria, Linn. 

 Crabbea, Harv. 

 Lophostachys, PoA^ 

 TEtheilema, R. Br. 

 Whitlieldia, Hooker. 

 Geissomeria, Lindl. 

 Lepidagathis, Willd. 



Apolepis, Bl. 

 Neuracanthus, Nees. 

 Corj'thacanthus, Nees. 



ACANTHrD^. 



Blepharis, Juss. 



Dilivaria, Juss. 



? Cheilopsis, Moq. 

 Blepharacanthus, Nees. 

 Acanthus, Tountef. 

 Acanthodium, l>el. 

 Monechma, Hochst. 

 Russeggera, Endl. 

 Schwabea, Endl. 

 Athiianthus, Lndl. 



JrSTICIAD.t. 



Crossandra, Sali-'ib. 



Harrachia, .lacii. f. 

 Aphelandra.TJ. Br. 



Si/nandra, .Schrad. 



liemitome, Nees. 

 Strobilorachis, A7. 

 Porphyrocoma, Hooker. 

 Endopogon, Nees. 

 Loxantlms, Nees. 

 Phlogacanthus, Nees. 

 Cryptophragmium, Nees. 

 Haplanthera, Hochst. 

 Rostellularia, Reichetib. 



