3o0 XCTI. ACANTIIACEiE. 



obtuse, niucrouate, entire, more or less haiiy or minutely scabrous, pale 

 beneath. Flowers sessile, solitary, axillary ; bracteoles 10 in opposite 

 pairs; those of the first (outermost) pair -^^j in., of the second pair 

 g in., of the third ^ in,, and of the fourth ^ in, long, all broadly obovate 

 concave, strongly 3-nerved, furnished on the rounded apical margins 

 with a row of long, gland-tipped, shortly retrorsely -hairy bristles, the 

 fifth (innermost) pair of bracteoles unlike the others, | in, long 

 (including the apical mucro), oblong or oblong-spathulate with a long 

 spinulose mucro about yL in. long in the centre of the apex, sometimes 

 with 1 or 2 shorter ones by its side. Calyx divided nearly to the base ; 

 segments linear-lanceolate, acute, with membranous margins, one segment 

 exceeding | in. long, acuminate, strongly 3-nerved, the opposite segment 

 very little shorter, acutely 2-toothed at the apex, 2-nerved (a nerve 

 running into each tooth), the lateral segments ^ in. long, 1-nerved. 

 Corolla blue, f in. long ; tube -^^j in. long ; lower lip pubescent on both 

 sides, the lobes -^ in. long, obtuse, the mid-lobe the narrowest. 

 Capsules -^ in. long, elHpsoid, compressed, glabrous, completely enclosed 

 in the persistent sepals, 2-seeded. Seeds ^ in. long, bi'oadly ellipsoid, 

 compressed, with hairs which when moistened are much louger than 

 the nucleus. ¥1 B. I. v. 4, p. 479 ; Grab. Cat. p. 160 ; Dalz. & Gibs, 

 p. 192; Trim. Fl. Ceyl, v. 3, p. 316; Woodr, in Journ, Bomb, Nat. 

 v. 12 (1899) p. 356.— Flowers : Sept.-Oct. Veen. Kdntemaha. 



KoNKAN : growing freely near the sea, Kairne ; Basseiu, Balzell <^- Gibson. Deccan : 

 Poona, Woodrowl S. M. Country: Eelgaum, Eitchie, 1949.'; Badarni, Woodrow. 

 Gu.jar.a.t: Abmedabad, Coolce\; Kernali, KanitJcarl — Distrib. India (W. Peninsula, 

 Ciiota-Nagpur, Delhi); Ceylon, Tropical and S. Africa. 



In this, as in the 2 preceding species, I have called the bracts immediately beneath 

 the calyx " bracteoIei<" which, considering their position I'elatively to the calyx, seems 

 to nie a better name than bracts. There appears to be much diversity of opinion 

 among authors as to the most suitable term to employ for them, some authors 

 considering the inner pair only to be bracteoles, while one author describes the 

 flowers of B. moling ini folia as bracteolate in one publie-atiou, ebracteolate in 

 another. 



4. Blepharis sindica, T. Anders, in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. 9 (1807) 

 p. 500. A small dichotomously branched shrub ; stem usually very 

 short, sometimes almost ; branches ash-culored, slender, subterete, 

 clothed with very short hairs. Leaves sessile in a whorl of 4, unequal, 

 1-2| by x'g— g- in., linear, acute, sometimes with a few small spinous 

 teeth near the base, finely apiculate, rough with short stiff hairs, 

 margins recurved, midrib strong beneath. Flowers in strobilale sub- 

 sessile hairy spikes 1-3 in. long, in the forks of the branches, solitary 

 or few or mn»!v together on tlie top of a very short stout woody 

 peduncle, usually numerous in the lowest fork, solitary in the upper; 

 bracts quadrifarious, ^-1 by 3-^ in., the lowest the smallest, hairy on 

 both sides, ovate, suddenly acuminate, spinous-jiointed, 5-nerved, more 

 or less recurved above, tlie upper ])art of each armed with long, distant, 

 usually recurved sharp slender spines : bracteoles 2 beneath the calyx, 

 rather less than | in. long, lanceolate, acute, hairy and ciliate, reticu- 

 lately veined and with a strong midnerve. Calyx divided almost to the 

 base, softly hairy on both surfaces ; the larger segment | by 5 in., 

 ovate, shortly and blnntly acuminate, trunca1(> at the apex, 7-nerved, 

 the 3 midnerves parallel and continued beyond the truncate densely 

 ciliute apex into 3 bristly teeth ; the opposite calyx-segment | by 4- in., 



