xcTi. acanthace.t:. 393 



3. Lepidagathis trinervis, Nees, in Wall. Fl. As. Ear. v. 3 (1832) 

 p. 96. A small suffruticose diffuse plant ; root stock woody ; branches 

 numerous, 5-10 in. long, slender, quadrangular, with many nodes. 

 Leaves 1-1| by g-| in., sessile, linear, subacute, entire, glabrous or 

 nearly so, the margins often scabrid, 3-nerved from a slightly tapering 

 base, the miduerve stronger than the lateral ones which are close to the 

 margin. Flowers in axillary sessile ovoid spikes g-f in. long, usually 

 2 or more closely packed together so as to appear like a single head ; 

 bracts often colored, usually glabrous or nearly so, rather less than | in. 

 long, ovate or ovate-elliptic, with a recurved cuspidate spine almost as 

 long as the leafy part ; bracteoles as long as the bracts, oblong-lanceo- 

 late, aristate-acuminate, membranous. Calyx membranous, § in. long, 

 5-partite (the lower lobes scarcely at all connate above the base) to 

 about y'g in. from the base ; the 3 outer segments nearly equal in length, 

 the upper shgbtly broader, all lanceolate, very acute, not spinous-pointed, 

 densely hairy iuside, nearly glabrous outside ; inner lateral segments 

 shorter and narrower, linear, acute, hairy on both sides. Corolla densely 

 hairy in bud with erect white hairs which project much beyond the 

 apex of the bud, white, spotted with yellow, brown and purple, \-^ in. 

 long; tube short; upper lip oblong, rounded at the apex; lower lip 

 3-lobed, the lobes obtuse, the lateral narrower than the middle one. 

 Capsules I in. long, ovoid-lanceolate, subacute, compressed, 2-seeded, 

 grooved on the sides, the back scarious, irregularly rupturing. Seeds 

 tV~8 ''^" ■^*^'^§'» oblong, rounded at the apex, clothed with long mucila- 

 ginous hygroscopic hairs many times longer than the nucleus. Fl. B. 1. 

 V. 4, p. 517; Woodr. in Jouru. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (1899) p. 357.— 

 Flowers : Nov.-Feb. 



KoNKAN : Law\, Sfocksl; Karaiija Tslaiid, Bombay Harbour. Cool-el Deccan : 

 Pal jungles (Khandesli districts), KanitJcarl Gujarat: Perim Island at the month 

 of the Narbada river, Cof/^e ! ; Deesa, iS'?'oe/i's ! ; Palanpur, ^rt(y7!; Kathiawar, Woodrow. 

 ■ — DisTRiB. India (Central India, Chota-Nagpur, N.W. Himalaya, W. Peninsula). 



Var. asperrima, C. B. Clarke, in Hook. f. Fl. B. I. v. 4 (1885) p. 517. 

 Stem 6 in. high, stout, woody, much branched ; internodes very short. 

 Leaves small, ^ by yV in., mucronate, veiy scabrous. Lepidagathis 

 axperifolia, T. Anders. MS. in Herb. Kew. 



There is one sheet: in Herb. Kew. marked Konkan, Stocks\ The plant should 

 perhaps hare specific rank accorded to it. 



4. Liepidagathis lutea, Dalz. in KewJoum. Bat. v. 2 (1S50) p. 139. 

 Rootstock woody ; stems numerous, suberecf", filiForm, quadrangular, 

 pubescent or nearly glabrou-^. Leaves sessile, usually 1-2 by -yV-- g- in. 

 (in a specimen from Marniagao near the sea reaching 4 by ^ in.), linear, 

 acute or subob^use, glabrous or nearly so, 3-nerved, base slightlj^ taperinsx. 

 Flowers in velvety-pubescent spikes, 1-3 together in many of the axils 

 and also in a subradical congested globe ; bracts variable in length, 

 ^-ly in. long, the outer herbaceous, long-acuminate from a broadly 

 ovate base, softly hairy on both surfaces, 3-nerved, sharply spinous- 

 pointed, ciliate, the inner bracts shorter, membranous, silky-hairy, 

 usually spinous-pointed; bracteoles nearly | in. long, ovate or obovate, 

 silky-hairy on both sides, spiuous-pointed. Calyx rather less than I in. 

 long, silky-hairy on both sides, 5-partite to about j-L in. from the base; 

 segments thick; the oiitpr upper segment -^ in. broad, slightly longer 



VOL. II. 2 D 



