MfiLASTOMACEiE; 155 



An eminently Indian genus, nearly all of the 30 species 

 being confined to this country, most of them to the hills. 



Some or all of the bristles of the calyx-tube are combs pointing upwards 

 on short stalks, and the number and nature of these, whether covering the 

 whole calyx or only towards the top, are important characteristics of the 

 several species. 



Almost herbaceous : petals four, white with purple patches. 



O. cupularis. 

 Shrubs, with purple flowers : — 



Leaves silky underneath : bristles of calyx mostly simple. 



O. wightiana. 

 Branches reddish: bristles of calyx stalked. O. lesche- 

 nauliiana. 



Large shrub : bristles of calyx large : cross veins close. 



O. reticulata. 



Osbeckia cupularis Z)^w ; F.B.L ii 514, I2; a small 

 plant, growing in grass, with slender yellowish branches 

 and white flowers blotched with pink on the outside. 



Herbaceous from a perennial rootstock. Bark thin 

 and scaly ; stem and younger branches four-angled, 

 yellowish and hirsute with erect hairs, as also the upper 

 surface of the leaves and the veins on the under side. 

 Leaf-stalk i/io to ^ inch; blade Yz inch, ovate-elliptic, 

 drying yellowish, with three to five nerves curving from 

 base to apex. Flowers in close bunches on tall slender 

 branches with a pair of leaves just below. Calyx % inch, 

 deep red inside and partly on the outside too, with 

 bristles of the lower half simple of the upper comb-like ; 

 teeth four, about i/io inch, alternating with long-stalked 

 tufted or comb-bristles and ending each in a few long 

 hairs. Petals four, spreading, white with blotches of pink 

 on the outside. Stamens eight : their filaments slender, 

 white: anthers 1/16 inch. Fruiting calyx-tube J^ by 

 1/5 inch, campanulate, nearly white and at length 

 glabrous ; mouth % inch across, encircled by a fairly 

 wide band : capsule inside opening by four holes and 

 not protruding above the mouth, t. 113. Wight Ic. 996 

 (O. leschenaultiana). 



