Asfs/asid.'] AcanthacecE. 323 



glabrous, 1. 4 in a whorl (or rather 2 decussate pah's inserted 

 close to one another), 3-6 in., lanceolate, very much attenuate 

 at base and decurrent on petiole, acuminate, obtuse, entire, 

 undulate, glabrous and shining on both sides, rather thick, 

 petiole long, obscure ; fl. numerous, peduncles stout, spikes 

 3-6 in., narrow, quadrangular, bracts in four ranks, much 

 overlapping, f in., lanceolate, acuminate, mucronate, with 

 copious long white hair, bractlets \ in., linear, very silky- 

 hairy ; sep. as long as bractlets, hyaline, with long silky hair 

 at top ; tube of cor. much exserted, f in., limb i-i| in. diam. 



Var. /3, crocea, Trim. 



Spikes shorter and broader, 1-3 in., on longer peduncles; 

 bracts broader, less acuminate, with the hairs more spreading; 

 bractlets nearly as long as bracts ; leaves puberulous beneath, 

 dull (not shining) above. 



Van 7, axillaris. C. axillaris, Nees. Wight, Ic. t. 460. 

 Bracts without spreading hairs. 



Low country; rather common, chiefly in the dry districts. Var. /8, 

 Uma-oya (common in gardens). Var. 7, Kurunegala. Fl. all the year ; 

 especially July-Sept.; salmon-red. Var. j8, dull orange-yellow. 



Also in Peninsular India. 



The ordinary form with salmon-red flowers is a well-known hot-house 

 plant in Europe. 



16. ASYSTASIA, Bl. 



Semi-scandent perennials, 1. opp., fl. moderate-sized, in 

 spikes, racemes, or panicles, bracts and bractlets small, incon- 

 spicuous ; sep. 5, narrow, equal; cor. -tube funnel-shaped, 

 somewhat ventricose, lobes 5, equal, imbricate; stam, 4, 

 didynamous, inserted near base of cor.-tube, anth. not spurred ; 

 disk annular; stigma minutely bifid; capsule clavate, with a 

 long solid base; seeds 4, circular, flattened, glabrous, nodular 

 or tuberculate.— Sp. 15 ; 10 in Fl. B. Ind. 



Infl. racemose : stem bluntly quadrangular . i. A. COROMANDELIANA. 



Infl. paniculate 2. A. CHELONIOIDES. 



Infl. spicate ; stem sharply quadrangular . 3. A. variabilis. 



I. A. coromandeliana, Nees in Wall. PI. As. Rar. iii. 89 (1832). 

 Furuk, S. P^yppatchotti, T. 



Ruellia zeylanica. Keen., Moon Cat. 46. Nees in DC. Prod. xi. 165. 

 A. ga7igetica. And. in Thw. Enum. 235. C. P. 1988. 

 Fl. B. Ind. iv. 492. Wight, Ic. t. 1506. 



Stems very long, much branched, scandent by means of 

 the divaricate branches and petioles, bluntly quadrangular, 



