344 Acanthacece. [Didiptera. 



beneath; spikes numerous, slender, i-i^ in., erect, 4-sided, 

 bracts nearly similar, \ in., oval, acuminate, stiff, mucronate, 

 puberulous, with a very narrow membranous wing, the floral 

 ones narrower and with rather wider wing, bractlets very 

 narrow, subulate; sep. filiform, a little longer than bractlets. 



Lower montane zone ; rare. Ambagamuwa and Pusselawe (Gardner). 



Also in S. India. 



I have seen only Gardner's specimens. 



28. DZCIiIPTEIlA,/;^. 



Herbaceous, 1. opp., entire, fl. moderate-sized, sessile, 2 or 

 3 together (i or 2 usually abortive) enclosed in a pair of large 

 bracts, arranged in umbellate axillary cymes; bractlets linear, 

 small; sep. 5, connate below, somewhat unequal, longer than 

 bractlets ; cor.-tube rather long, somewhat dilated above, limb 

 deeply 2-lipped, upper lip entire, lower shortly 3-lobed ; stam. 

 2, anth. 2-celled, cells superposed, not spurred; stigma bifid; 

 capsule with a short, solid base, placentas separating from the 

 base; seeds 4, ovoid, compressed, worted, retinacula large, 

 straight. — Sp. 60 ; 11 in Fl. B. Ind. 



D. zeylanica, Nees in DC. Prod. ix. 474 (1847). 



D. bivalvis, Thw. Enum. 235 (non Juss.). C. P. 2576, 399. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 552. Wight, Ic. t. 155 1 (A bivalvis). 



Stems long, semi-scandcnt, much-branched, cylindrical, 

 glabrous or with opp. lines of pubescence; 1. \-2\ in., ovate- 

 oval, acute at base, shortly acuminate, subacute, entire, 

 glabrous or slightly rough and copiously lineolate above, 

 paler and pilose on veins beneath, petiole \ in.; bracts oval, 

 very unequal, mucronate, ciliate, somewhat hairy, veined, 

 cymes on longish peduncles, bractlets pubescent; anth. small; 

 style long, pubescent; capsule \ in., clavate, pubescent. 



Var. /3, Neesli, Trim. C. P. 399. 



Much smaller, stems diffuse, prostrate, much rooting at 

 nodes, slender, pubescent ; 1. smaller, bracts smaller, rotundate, 

 more pubescent, with a longer mucro. 



Shady places up to 4000 ft.; rare, chiefly in the intermediate districts. 

 Hunasgiriya; Uda Pusselawe ; Haputale. Var. /J, Uma-oya. Fl. Feb., 

 May, Aug.; bright pink, with the base of the upper lip white. 



Also in .S. India. 



Thwaites considered var. /3 to be the plant intended by Nees, our 

 ordinary form coming rather under his D. bivalvis. 



