EJnnacanthiis.'] AcanthaceCB. 339 



A shrub, 3-6 ft, with many long opp. ascending branches, 

 bark yellowish, stems cylindrical, glabrous, young parts finely 

 puberulous; 1. large, 6-12 in., lanceolate, tapering to base, 

 acuminate, subacute, very faintly crenate, quite glabrous 

 (minutely puberulous when young), dark green, paler beneath, 

 venation reticulate, copious, pellucid, petiole i-ij in.; fl. 

 large, in short dense axillary spikes, on long stout peduncles 

 shorter than 1., bracts f-i in., oval, subacute, glabrous, erect, 

 imbricated, bractlets \-\ in., oblong-lanceolate, acute; sep. 

 f in., slightly connate at base, oblong-lanceolate, acute, finely 

 woolly-pubescent, posterior one rather shorter ; cor. pubescent 

 outside, tube \ in., lower part cylindrical, above laterally 

 dilated and inflated, upper lip f in., oblong-oval, curved, 

 obtuse, notched, lower lip as long, lobes very deep oblong 

 rounded; disk annular; fil. long, curved; capsule 'f in., 

 clavate, pubescent; seeds glabrous, tubercular- verrucose.' 



Low country ; common in hedges and waste places, especially in 

 dry region, but usually planted, and scarcely a native. Fl. Dec; white 

 with pink veins, anth. green. 



Also in India, Malaya, &c., wild or cultivated. 



Much cultivated by the natives as a fence. Largely grown about 

 Jaffna as a green manure for Tobacco-gardens. The Tamil name means 

 that goats will not touch it. The juice of the leaves, also the flowers and 

 bark, are used medicinally in children's coughs; the leaves are bitter, but 

 have no scent when bruised. " Hermann states that the bark was used to 

 procure abortion, whence his name Ecbolium. The name ' Malabar-nut' 

 is applied to this by the English in India— a name I never heard here. 



24. RHZNACANTKUS, Nees. 



Small undershrub, 1. opp., entire; fl. rather large, in very 

 lax, divaricate panicle, bracts and bractlets very small; sep. 5, 

 equal, narrow; cor.-tube very long and narrow, upper lip very 

 narrow, bifid, lower broad, 3-lobed ; stam. 2, inserted in throat 

 of cor.-tube, 2-celled, cells superposed, blunt at base; capsule 

 clavate, with a long, solid base; seeds 4, ovoid, glabrous, 

 retinacula large, much hooked — Sp. 4 ; 2 in Fl. B. Ind. 



R. communis, Nees i?i Wall. PL As. Rar. iii. 109 (1832I Anitta,, 

 S. Nag-amulli, T. 



Justicia jtasuia, L., Moon Cat. 3. Thw. Enum. 234. C. P. 1982. 

 Fl. B. Ind. iv. 540. Wight, Ic. t. 464. 



Slender, stem 2-4 ft, slightly branched, nearly cylindrical, 

 slightly rough; 1. 2-3 in., lanceolate, tapering to base, acute, 

 entire, glabrous, copiously lineolate, petiole obscure; fl. sessile 

 or shortly pedicellate, solitary or 2 or 3 together, distantly 

 placed on divaricate branches of very large, lax, pubescent, 

 terminal panicle, bracts linear-lanceolate, acute; sep. linear, 



