KuelUa.'] Lxxxviii. acantiiace^. 547 



4. R. australiSj 72. Br. Prod. 479. A small perennial with erect or 

 diffuse branching stems often under 6 in. but sometimes nearly 1 ft. long, 

 hirsute as well as the foliage or nearly glabrous. Leaves from obovate or 

 oblong and nnder \ in. to oblong-lanceolate and 2 in. long, narrowed into a 

 petiole. FloAvers blue, axillary, sessile or very shortly pedicellate, with nar- 

 row bracteoles shorter than or very rarely as long as the calyx. Calyx-seg- 

 ments snbnlate-acuminate, 3 to 4 or even 5 lines long. Corolla-tube^ 

 exceeding the calyx, gradually but considerably enlarged upwards; loljes 

 spreading, more than half as long and sometimes nearly as long as the tube." 

 Stamens inserted near the base of the tube and the anthers scarcely reaching 

 above the middle. Capsule about |- in. long, mncronate, linear, not enlarged 

 upwards, and usually 2.cclled from the base. Seeds abont 6 in each cell. 

 Cav. Ic. vi. 62. t. 586 ; Nees in DC. Prod. xi. 151 as to Brown's synonym, 

 but not the plant described; CrypJiiacanihus australis, Nees in DC. Prod. xi. 

 198. 



Queensland. ' Eay of Inlets, Banks a7id Solander ; Thirsty Sound and Keppel Bay, 

 R. Brown; C^]y^ York^ M'Giilivra^ ; Rockhamptou, Z)tz//^c% ; ^^\s\ck, Beckler. 



KT. S. Wales. Port Jackson, R. Brown and others; Hastings river, Beckler ; Liver- 

 liool plains, C. Moore; between the Darling and Cooper's Creek, Neilson. 



' Var. scahra. A coarse form. Leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, rigid and scabrous. 

 Capsule rather larger.— Gilbert river, T, Mueller ; Armadillo, Barton. 



Var. pumila. Very small and nearly glabrous. Leaves mostly oblong. — R. ptimUlo, 

 R. Br. Prod. 479; Dipt er acanthus pumilio, Nees in DC. Prod. xi. 121.— Burdekin river, 

 F. Mueller; Rockhampton, 0' Shanesy ; Mogili Scrub, C, Stuart; Darling Downs, Law 

 Armadillo, Barton ; Port Jackson, R, Broivn. 



The 



havii.j^ _. __ ^ 



the E. Lidian Hemigrapius elegans, Kecs. Some specimens of R. australis much more 

 closely resemble the Hemigraphis hirta^ T. Anders., or RaeU'ia hirta^ Vahl. 



5. R. spiciflora, T. MnelL Herh. Stems creeping and rooting at the 

 base, ascending, under ] ft. long in the specimens seen, loosely pubescent as 

 well as the veins of the leaves underneath. Leaves petiolate, ovate or oblong, 

 those of each pair very unequal, the larger one 1 to 2 in. long. ^ Flowers 

 distant, along slender axillary peduncles, forming interrupted spikes, each 

 one sessile within a small linear-setaceous bract with still smaller bracteoles. 

 Calyx-segments linear-setaceous. Corolh-i-tube rather broad, nearly \ m. 

 long, the lobes about half as long as the tube. Stamens short. Capsule 

 nearly ^ in. long, apparently like that of i?. australis, but not seen npe. 



Queensland. Archer's Creek, LeichhardL The habit of the plant is that of Jsysta- 

 »ia gangetica, T. Anders. {A. coromandeUana, Nees), but the contorted corolla-lobes and 

 the stamens are those of Ruellia australis. 



6. R. acatdis, 7?. Br. Trod. 479. A dwarf almost stendess hirsute per- 

 ennial, with a short branching stock, rarely emitting a few rather longer 

 decumbent stems. Leaves mostlv radical or nearly so, petiolate, ovnl-elhp- 

 tical to oblong, obtuse, from under 1 in. to nearly 2 in. long. Flowers on 

 pedicels varying from about the length of the calyx to three times that 

 length, and always longer than the fruit. Bracteoles none. Calyx-segments 

 4 to 5 lines lon^. Corolla-tube about \ in. long, not much ddated, the lobes 



rhe garden plant described by Nees as R. australis, and which on his authority (he 

 ir.g named it so in my herbarium) I described as such in Maund's ' Botanist,' t. 175, is 



2 N 2 



