XCVI. ACANTHACEiE. '355 



Wight, Icon. t. 1490 ; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 184 ; Trim. Fl Cejl. v. 3, 

 p. 293 ; Watt, Diet. Ecou. Prod. v. 4, p. 3 1 5.— Flowers : Dec. 



KoNKAN : Slocks I ; wet places in S. Konkan, Da/sell ^ Gibson. Kanaka : Supa, 

 inundated banks of the Kala naddi, Eitchie, 1209 ! — Distrib. More or less throughout 

 India; Ceylon. 



Excluded Species, 



BTGMOFSILA 8T0CKSII, T. Anders. MS. ex C. B. Clarke, in Hook. f. Fl. B. I. v. 4, 

 p. 407. The specimens on the single sheet in Herb. Kew. {Physichilus no. 4 in Herb. 

 Hook. & Thorns.) are clearly nothing more than luxuriant forms of H. Serpyllum. 

 The anthers are the same as in that species, giving the same measurements. The 

 sheet bears in one corner in pencil the words Hygrophila S/ocksii, T. Anderson, but 

 there is no evidence to shew when this was written. It might have been subsequent 

 to or have been prior to the publication of Anderson's Indian Acanthacea in v. 9 of 

 the Journal of the Linnean Society (1867). Dr. Anderson died in 1870. In the 

 publication referred to, however (p. 456), T. Anderson makes the following remarks 

 (quoted below in extcnso) regarding these very same specimens : — 



" This is evidently a variable plant and is much influenced by the nature of the soil 

 in which it is found. Some luxuriant forms of it were distributed in the Indian 

 Herbarium of Drs. Hooker & Thomson under the numbers Physichilus sp. 2, 3, 

 and 4." 



11. RUELLIA, Linn. 



Herbs or uudershrubs. Leaves opposite, subentire. Elowers sessile 

 or subsessile, solitary or in clusters or racemes ; bracts ; bracteoles 

 large, usually exceeding the calyx. Calyx 5-partite or 5-fid ; segments 

 subequal, narrow, acute. Corolla oblique ; tube ventricose ; lobes sub- 

 equal, rounded, twisted to the left in bud, spreading in flower. Stamens 

 4, didynamous ; filaments glabrous or sometimes hairy at the base ; 

 anthers subequal, 2-celled, the cells oblong, muticous, glabrous ; pollen 

 globose, reticulate or honeycombed. Ovary 2-celled ; ovules 3-10 in 

 each cell ; style linear, hairy ; stigma with one oblong-liuear branch, 

 the other suppressed or nearly so. Capsule clavate, cylindric, seed- 

 bearing upwards, solid at the base below. Seeds large, thin, discoid, 

 margined, hygroscopically hairy ; retinacula large, strong, hooked. — 

 Distrib. All warm regions ; species about 200. 



The generic character is narrowed to the section Dl^^teracantJius 

 (genus, Nees), to which the Indian species all belong. 



Leaves ovate or elliptic. 



Prostrate or climbing ; leaves sparsely hairy, acute ; ovary and 



capsule pubescent 1. B. prosii-aUr, 



var. dejecia. 

 Suberect ; leaves closely pubescent on both sides, obtuse ; ovary 



and capsule glabrous 2. B. pcdiila. 



Leaves linear, hoary ; ovary and capsule pubescent 3. i?. longifolia. 



1. Ruellia prostrata, Poir. Encyc. Method, v. 6 (1804) p. 349, 

 TAB. dejecta, C. B. Clarke, in Hool\ f. Fl. B. I. v. i (1884) p. 412. 

 Stems 6-18 in. long, straggling or climbing among bushes, much- 

 branched, terete with long internodes, thickened and purple at the 

 nodes, more or less pubescent. Leaves |-3 by g-lf in., ovate or 

 elliptic, acute, sparsely hairy, margins entire, base acute ; petioles j-| 

 in. long. Flowers nearly sessile, axillary, solitaiy or few together ; 

 bracteoles like the leaves but smaller, j-g in. long (including the stalk). 

 Calyx 5 in. long, divided about | the way down ; segments linear- 

 subulate, very acute, hairy. Corolla pale mauve-violet, I5 in. long, 



