348 xcYi. ACANTnACEir:. 



}-i in. long, elliptic-oblong, glandular-pubescent, often -with a serrate 

 tooth near the apex; bracteoles i in. long, oblong, obtuse, glandular- 

 hairy, sometimes suppressed. Calyx rather more than | in. long, divided 

 to the base or nearly so ; sepals narrow (Jg^rV ^^- '^"de), linear-sub- 

 spathulate, sometimes with small scattered teeth on the margin, ciliate. 

 Corolla purple, | in. long, 2-lipped ; tube enlarged below the limb; 

 upper lip with 2 oblong obtuse lobes ; lower lip equally 3-lobed, 

 buUate. Stamens 4 fertile; filaments glabrous; anther-cells parallel, 

 equal, muticous at the base. Capsules | in. long, narrowly oblong, 

 pointed, glabrous. Seeds small, supported on minute conical (not 

 curved) soft retinacula. Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (1899) 

 p. 355. KomaphUa jjinnatifida, Dalz. in Kew Journ. Bot. v. 3 (1851) 

 p. 38; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 184; Hook. Icon. t. 843. Adenosma pinna- 

 tifida, T. Anders, in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. 9, p. 455 ; Bedd. Icon. PI. 

 Ind. Or. t. 246. — Flowers : Jau.-Mar. 



Konkan: river-banks of the S. Konkan, Balzell S( Gibson; near running streams at 

 the foot of the Ghats, BalzclV. Deccan : Stocks] S. M. Country : Mulas, Ritchie, 

 ] 932 ! Kanaea : Devituan Ghat (N. Kanara), Woodrow ! — Distrib. India (W. Penin- 

 sula). 



7. BLEPHARIS, Juss. 



Undershrubs often spinous or with spinous-toothed leaves. Leaves 

 opposite or 4-nately wborled. Flowers in terminal spikes or on sup- 

 pressed late al branches, strobilate, tetrastichous or capitate and few- 

 flowered, or axillary and 1-flowered, bracteolate. Calyx 4-partite nearly 

 to the base ; segments unequal, in opposite pairs, one of the larger pair 

 eraarginnte or 2-lobed, the 2 inner segments much shorter and narrower. 

 Corolla 2-lipped ; tube rigid ; upper lip subobsolete ; lower lip spreading, 

 nearly flat, obovate or oblong, with 3-5 rounded lobes, purple, blue or 

 white. Stamens 4, didynamous ; filaments thick, rigid, tliose of the 

 lower stamens produced beyond the attachment of the anthers ; anthers 

 with 1 large cell with densely boarded margins, the other cell small or 

 obsolete. Disk annular. Ovary 2-celled, ovules 2 in each cell ; style 

 linear ; stigma shorrly 2-fid. Capsule oblong, scarcely contracted at the 

 base, 2-4-seeded. Seeds compressed, orbicular, echinate, supported on 

 rigid retinacula. — Distrib. Mostly African ; a few species in India ; 

 species 50. 



Leave*! in opposite pairs 1. B. asperrima. 



Leaves 4 in a whorl. 



Herbs ; flowers sohtary or 2-3 together. 



Leaves petiolate, thin, acute 2. B.boerh/ivifpfolia. 



Leaves subsessile, thick and fleshy, obtuse 3. B. molliiginifolia. 



A siuall slirub; flowers in strobilate spikes 4. B. sindica. 



1. Blepharis asperrima, Nees, in DC. Prodr. v. 11 (1S47) p. 267. 

 Stems 8-24 in. long, suborect or prostrate and rooting at the nodes, pale, 

 striate, glabrous or nearly so, usually with a few hairs at the nodes. 

 Leaves opposite, 2-3 by |-1| in., ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 

 finely apiculate, entire or spinous-dentate, rough on both surfaces with 

 sharp bulbous-based hairs, base taperinq: ; main nerves 4-6 pairs ; 

 petioles 4-| in. long, liairy. Flowers solitary, sessile in the upper axils, 

 or in terminal short spikes; bracteoles in 3 ojiposite pairs, the outer 

 J._3 by ^ (but somewhat variable in length), ovate-lanceolate, acute, 

 apiculate, hairy, the second pair rather more than ^ in. long, cuneiform. 



