360 XCTI. ACANTHACE.?:. 



the base ; anthers 4 in, long, oblong, slightly pubescent, the cells with 

 spurs 3^o~'^ ^^^- '°'^S ^^ ^'^® base. Ovary glabrous ; style pubescent. 

 Capsules l-f in. long, glabrous, clavate, pointed. Seeds usually 2, 

 orbicular, reaching i in. in diam., softly villous, especially on the margin. 

 Fl. B. I. V. 4, p. 416 ; Dalz, & Gibs. p. 185 ; Lindau, in Engl. & 

 Prantl, Pflanzenf. v. 4, 3 B, p. 299, fig. 120 J ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. 

 Nat. V. 12 (1899) p. 355. RuelUa bracteaia, Roxb. Fl. Ind. v. 3 (1832) 

 p. 47 ; Grab. Cat. p. 162.— Flowers : Feb.-Apr. 



Konkan: Law\ ; GhAts, Stocks] ; hills near Panvel, Nimmo ex Graham. Xanara : 

 north of Haliyal, Bitchie, 1935 ! Gujarat : Dangs, Woodruw. — Distkib. More or 

 less throughout India. 



14. MICRANTHUS, Wendl. Bot. Beob. (1798) p. 38. 



PHAYLOPSIS, Willd. Sp. PI. v. 3 (1800) p. 342. 



Perennial prostrate or diffuse herbs. Leaves opposite, membranous, 

 petiolate, entire or obscurely crenate. Flowers in dense terminal 1-sided 

 spikes ; bracts orbicular, closely imbricate, each usually 3-flowered ; 

 bracteoles 0. Sepals 5, one large like the bracts, ovate, nerved, the 

 others linear-subulate. Corolla small; tube slender, cylindric; lobes 

 slightly unequal, rounded, contorted in bud, spreading in flower. Stamens 

 4, didynamous ; anthers subsimilar, 2-celled, the cells parallel, shortly 

 oblong, minutely mucronate at the base. Ovary 2-celled ; ovules 2 in 

 each cell ; style long, hairy ; stigma of 2 subulate lobes, the upper lobe 

 much the smaller or almost wanting. Capsule clavate, compressed 

 parallel to the septum. Seeds 4 (rarely fewer), discoid, compressed, 

 on placentas separating elastically from the base of the capsule and 

 raising the seeds with them.— Distrib. India, Africa, Mascarene 

 Islands ; species 15. 



■There can be no question as to the priority of the genus Micninthus; indeed 

 Willdenow admits its priority, but gives no reason why tliat genus should be set aside 

 and iiis own genus Phaijlopsis subsrituted for it. Unfortunately Ecklon [Top. Verz. 

 (1827) p. 4'i] has given the name Micranihus to a genus of Iridacco', for which, how- 

 ever, O. Kuntze has found another mame. The genus above was founded by ^A'endland 

 on Micranthus oppositifolius, the only Indian species of the genus. 



1. Micranthus oppositifolius, Wendl. Bot. Beoh. (1798) p. 39. 

 A perennial herb 1-2 ft. ; stems diffuse, slender, often prostrate, much 

 divaricately branched, thickened at the nodes and sometimes rooting at 

 the lower ones. Leaves very variable in size, on the same stem varying 

 from J— 3 by |— 1^ in., the leaves of each pair usually very unequal, ovate, 

 acuminate, more or less pubescent, entire or subcrenate, base tapering 

 and often unequal-sided ; petioles jj-l^ in. long. Flowers ses.sile, in 

 softly pubescent spikes 1-1 1 in. long, usually in threes enclosed by a 

 larf^e bract ; bracts cordate, reniform or orbicular, ^ in. long, usually 

 broader than long (often | in. wide), softly glandular-hairy and stroiifjly 

 ciliate, veined, green at lirst, turning white in age. Calyx glandular- 

 hairy, divided nearly to the base ; segments 5, one of them large and 

 leaf-like, \ by ^ in., broadly ovate, obtuse, densely pubescent and 

 strongly ciliate, the other 4 segments linear-subulate, \ in. long. Corolla 

 J— 4 in. long, white, glabrous ; tube slightly contract(>d about the middle ; 

 ]Q]jyg A^ ill. long, oblong, roimded. ]''ihiments glabrous. Ovary pubes- 

 cent at the apex; style faintly pubescent ; upper lobe of stigma distinct 



