3l6 AcanthaceCB. {Blepharis, 



12. BZiEPKARZS,//^^^. 



Perennial prostrate herbs, I. 4 in a whorl, unequal, fl. 

 solitary, axillary, surrounded by 4 decussate imbricate pairs 

 of spinous bracts (the inner pair bractlets (?) ) ; sep. 4, in 2 

 pairs, outer pair the larger; cor.-tube short, inflated, limb 

 quite without an upper lip, lower lip shortly 3-lobed ; stam. 4^ 

 fil. thick, anth. i -celled, densely bearded ; capsule ovoid, with 

 a solid base ; seeds 2, oval or orbicular, flattened, with copious- 

 adpressed fibres composed of fascicles of hairs. — Sp. 20; 5 irL 

 FL B. hid. 



L. obovate-oval, coarsely toothed . . i. B. boerhaavi/EFOLIA. 



L. oblong, entire 2. B. molluginifolia. 



1. B. boerhaaviaefolia, Pcrs. Syn. ii. 170 (1807). 



Actmihus madcraspateiisis^ L., Moon Cat. 46. Thw. Enum. 231.. 

 C. P. 2014. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 478. Wight, Ic. t. 458. 



Stems prostrate, rooting at the nodes, wiry, much divari- 

 cately branched, adpressed-pubescent ; 1. tapering to short 

 petiole, two of each whorl twice as large as the others,. 

 \-i\ in., oval or obovate-oval, acute, with a few coarse serra- 

 tions, slightly scabrous above, smooth and paler beneath,, 

 ciliate ; fl. sessile or shortly pedicellate ; bracts lax, somewhat 

 spreading, rigid, spinous -ciliate, outermost pair oval, very 

 short, innermost pair oblong-spathulate, shorter than sep. ; 

 sep. very unequal, upper one of outer pair nearly % in., forming 

 an upper lip to the fl., oblong, acute, leafy, lower one about 

 \ in., linear-oblong, inner pair \ in., linear, membranous ; cor.- 

 tube subglobose, narrowed at the root, lower lip f in., oval;, 

 fil. of anterior stam. produced into short points beyond anth., 

 anth. densely bearded on margins with white hair ; ov. 

 glabrous, style tapering, stigma acute ; capsule \ in., ovoid. 



Dry region ; common. Moon's locality is Kattregam. Fl. Feb.,, 

 March; yellowish-white, veined with pinkish-purple. 



Also in Peninsular India, Burma, and Trop. Africa. 



2. B. mollug-inifolla, Pcrs. Syn. ii. 180 (1807). 

 Thw. Enum. 231. C. P. 3576. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 479. 



Stems prostrate, sometimes rooting at nodes, wiry, slender,, 

 slightly branched, slightly hispid-hairy ; 1. sessile, two of each 

 whorl usually larger than the others, \-\ in., oblong, obtuse 

 or subacute, entire, glabrous or slightly scabrid, rather fleshy,, 

 pale beneath ; fl. sessile, 3 outer pairs of bracts oval, char- 

 taceous, veined, with long spreading spines at the margin in 



