XCTI. ACAXXIIACE.E, 387 



24. NEURACANTHUS, Nees. 



Herbs or undershrubs. Leaves entire. Flowers small, sessile and 

 solitary in the axils of opposite bracts, densely spieate ; spikes axillary 

 (rarely terminal), elongate, strobilate, or densely capitate ; bracts imbri- 

 cate, strongly nerved ; bracteoles or minute. Calyx 2-partite, the 

 upper segment 3-toothed or 3-lobed, the lower 2-toothed, or 2-lobed, or 

 2-partite. Corolla tubular-infundibuliform ; tube more or less dilated 

 above ; limb plicate, sub-bilabiate or entire, when 2-lipped the upper lip 

 narrow, shortly 2-Iobed or 2-tootbed, the lower 3-Iobed or 3-angled. 

 Stamens 4, didynamous, inserted on the middle of the tube, included ; 

 anthers of the lower and longer pair perfectly 2-celled, those of the 

 upper pair with one perfect and one imperfect cell. Disk inconspicuous. 

 Ovary 2-celled ; ovules usually 2 in each cell ; style short, glabrous ; 

 stigma of one oblong lobe. Capsule oblong, glabrous, 4- or 2-seeded. 

 Seeds much compressed, ovoid or suborbicular, hairy. — Distrib. India 

 and Tropical Africa ; species 12. 



Spikes elongate ; corolla 2-lippecl 1. K. frinervius. 



Spikes globose ; corolla entire 2. N. !>ph(srost((chys. 



1. Neuracanthus trinervius, Wi<jM, Icon. v. 4 (1850) t. 1532. 

 Shrubby, erect, 1-3 ft. high; stems sleuder, usually pale, glabrous or 

 nearly so. Leaves sessile, 3|-5 by l^-lf in., elliptic-lanceolate, acute, 

 lineolate on both sides, otherwise glabrous or nearly so, pale greeu ; 

 maiu nerves 7-8 pairs, conspicuous below, the midnerve very strong. 

 Flowers in axillary hairy spikes 1-6 in. long ; bracts ^ by -^ in., broadly 

 ovate, acute, spinous-pointed, strongly o-7-nerved, hairy and ciliate with 

 long hairs ; bracteoles or represented by a few bristles. Calyx 2-lipped 

 to the base, the upper and lower lips divided more than g-way down, 

 the upper into 3, the lower into 2 si gments, which are lanceolate, acute, 

 ciliate with slender white hairs, | in. long. Corolla blue, i-i in. long, 

 2-lipped ; up|)er lip -1- in. long with 2 small triangular penicillate teeth 

 at the apex ; lower lip with 3 shallow I'ouuded or subacute lobes, each 

 lobe finely apiculate and penicillate at the tip. Capsules \-^ by -^ in., 

 oblong, acuminate, glabrous. Seeds -fV^TV ^^' ^'^'^^"^ broadly ovoid, 

 compressed, silky. Wight's figure shows the calyx-lips reversed, the 

 3-lolDed lip being shown immediately beneath the bract instead of the 

 2-lobed one. Fl. B. I. v. 4, p. 491 • Dalz. & Gibs. p. 190 ; Talb. Trees, 

 Bomb. ed. 2, p. 2^ ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Kat. v. 12 (1899) 

 p. 356. — Flowers : Dec. 



Konkan: Stocks], DalscUl; Salsette, Law I, DalzclV. ; hills near Alibag, Bahell cj- 

 Gihi^on. Deccan : Khandala, Cooke !, Woodrow ! Kanara : moist forests of N. 

 Kanara, Talhot ; below the fall on the Kula naddi, Bitchie, 1210! — Distrib. India 

 (W. Peninsula). 



2. Neuracanthus sphserostachys, Dah. in Kew Journ. Bot. v. 2 

 (1850) p. 140. Stems erect, lg-2 ft. high, numerous from a perennial 

 root, simple, obtusely quadrangular, more or less scabrous-pubescent. 

 Leaves subsessile, 2^-4 by l2-2| in., elliptic-oblong, obtuse, very 

 shortly acuminate, lineolate on both sides, nearly glabrous, base 

 rounded, truncate or subcordate ; main nerves about 8 pairs. Flowers iu 

 globose congested silky-hairy spikes sessile in the opposite axils, much 

 enlarged after flowering, sometimes to 1| in. in diam. ; bracts 4 by | in., 



