294 Acanthacece. {Calophanes. 



2-4 ft, erect, nearly unbranched, somewhat compressed, 

 thickened at nodes, hispid with long hair below each node ; 

 1. sessile, 6 at a node, 2 outer 4-5 in., 4 inner about i^ in., 

 each having a nearly straight sharp yellow spine about i in. 

 long in the axil, tapering to both ends, sparsely hispid on both 

 sides, spinous-ciliate ; fl. 8 (in 4 pairs) at each node, bracts 

 like the 1. but smaller, bractlets linear, hyaline below, bristly- 

 hairy on back ; sep. 4, shorter than bractlets, equal, narrow 

 but one much broader than the rest, hyaline, with long hair 

 outside ; cor. glabrous, lobes oblong, truncate. 



Wet places in the low country; common. Fl. Sept., Oct., Jan.; bright 

 purple-blue. 



Also in India. 



The flowers are occasionally white. The root and whole plant are 

 much used as a diuretic and tonic medicine. 



6. CAIiOPHANES, D. Don. 

 Small, perennial, often shrubby, 1. opp., small, toothed, fl. 

 axillary, bracts and bractlets usually absent ; cal. tubular, 

 segm. 5, equal, acute ; cor. narrowly cylindrical below, funnel- 

 shaped above, obscurely 2 lipped, lobes 5, nearly equal, 

 rounded, contorted in bud ; stam. 4, didynamous ; ovules 2 

 in each cell ; capsule with a short solid base, clavate-oblong ; 

 seeds 4, orbicular, much compressed, covered with elastic 

 hygroscopic hair, retinacula hard, sharp. — Sp. 30 ; 4 in Fl. B. 

 Ind. 



Cal. -segm. subulate, nearly as long as cor. . . i. C. N.\GCHANA, 



Cal. -segm. lanceolate, not half as long as cor. . . 2. C. littoralis. 



I. C. Nag-chana, Nces itt DC. Prod. xi. 109 (1847). Paduvan, T. 



C. depressa, And. in Thw. Enum. 225. C. P. 3537. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 410. Burm. Fl. Ind. t. 41, f. 3 {Ruellia erecta). 



Perennial herb often woody at the base, stems numerous, 

 with many divaricate branches often prostrate and rooting at 

 the nodes, sub-quadrangular, usually glabrous ; 1. i-i in., 

 broadly oval or nearly rotundate, tapering to very short 

 petiole, rounded or truncate, usually denticulate, glabrous ; 

 fl. nearly sessile, 1-4, in axillary clusters ; cal. -tube narrow, 

 segm. as long as tube, subulate, pubescent ; cor. under ^> in., 

 scarcely exceeding cal. ; cor.-lobes oblong, obtuse, spreading; 

 capsule about \. i"-) rather longer than enlarged cal, linear, 

 acute ; seeds broadly oval. 



Sandy damp places in the dry region ; rather common. Trincomalie ; 

 Batticaloa ; Kekirawa; Atakalan Korale. Fl. March, April, and Aug., 

 Sept.; pale violet -pink. 



Also in Peninsular India. 



