Coleus.] LabiatcB. 375 



cor.-tube f in., abruptly bent at right angles below the dilated 

 laterally compressed upper portion, glabrous, upper lip very 

 slightly 4-lobed, lower lip longer, shortly stalked, oval, acute, 

 boat-shaped; stam. slightly exserted ; achenes ovoid, rather 

 compressed, somewhat ribbed, shining, dark brown. 



Var. /3, leptostachys; Hk.f. C. leptostachys^ Benth. in DC. Prod. 

 xii. TJ C. P. 17 (part). 



L. narrow; fl. smaller. 



Forests of the moist region ; in the montane zone (3000-6000 ft.), 

 common, rarer in the low country. Fl. Feb., Mar., and Sept., Oct.; very 

 pale violet or nearly white, upper lip darker. 



Also in mountains of S. India. 



A very variable plant, but the species proposed by Bentham are not 

 bounded by constant characters. The cal. and the whole of the inflores- 

 cence, as well as the under surfaces of the leaves, are often a deep coppery 

 purple. 



3. C. inflatus, Betith. Lab. 58 (1832). 



C. Benthamianus, Am. Pug. 36 ; Benth. in DC. Prod. xii. 77. Thw. 

 Enum. 238. C. P. 2065. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 626. Bot. Mag. t. 5236 (not good). 



Stem 2-4 ft. or more, very stout, succulent, acutely qua- 

 drangular or winged, glabrous and shining but for a transverse 

 line of hair at the nodes, spotted or stained with purple ; 1. 

 large, 4-7 in., oval, tapering to base, acuminate, acute, serrate, 

 hairy on both sides, thin, veins prominent beneath, petiole 2- 

 3 in., stout, pubescent, usually purple ; fl. rather large, on 

 short, slender, glabrous ped., cymes racemose, small, hori- 

 zontal, in long lax narrow pyramidal terminal panicles, bracts 

 caducous, rachis pubescent, purple; cal. small but very much 

 enlarged in fruit, slightly pubescent, 2-lipped, upper lip ovate, 

 acute, curved upward, lower shorter with lat. segm. triangular, 

 acute, and two lowest longer acuminate ; cor.-tube |- in. 

 narrow, doubly curved, glabrous, lips very short, upper flat, 

 3- or 4-lobed, lower acute; stam. slightly exserted ; achenes 

 ovoid, polished, brown. 



Forests of the montane zone above 5000 ft., common. Fl. Sept.-Feb.; 

 pale pinkish-violet, cal. dull pink. 



Endemic. 



The inflorescence is vinous red and the stems and petioles often also 

 red with darker spots. A conspicuous plant in the hill jungles. 



4. C elongratus, Trim, in Journ. Bot. xxvii. 165 (1889). [Plate 

 LXXIV.] 



Stems 2-3 ft., weak, straggling, sharply quadrangular (not 

 winged), rather succulent, finely puberulous, with long spread- 

 ing divaricate branches; 1. small, i-i| in., ovate-triangular, 



