XCVI. ACANTIIACE.E. 413 



Bengal and occasionally in tlie Bombay Presidency as an escape. 

 Beddome says that the plant is wild in Teuasserim. Fl. B. I. v. 4, 

 p. 532 ; Grab. Cat. p. 164 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Suppl. p. 71 ; Woodr. in 

 Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (1899) p. 357 & Gard. in lud. ed. 5, p. 417 ; 

 Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 4, p. 557. — Veen. Tev ; Jagat-madan. 



33. MONECHMA, Hochst. 



Herbs. Leaves entire, small. Plowers in strobilate or lax spikes, or 

 axillary and solitary; bracts ovate to linear-oblong; bracteoles minute 

 or 0. Calyx divided nearly to the base ; segments 5 or 4, narrow or 

 linear. Corolla small, 2-lipped ; upper lip subentire. Stamens 2; 

 one anther-cell below the other, tailed. Ovary 2-celled ; ovules 1 or 2 

 ill each cell ; style shortly 2-lobed or subentire. Capsule small, usually 

 pubescent, 2-seeded. Seeds discoid, quite smooth, often shining and 

 blotched, without tubercles or corrugations. — Disteib. All African 

 except 1 species (tlie following), which extends through Arabia to 

 India ; species 27. 



The 2-seeded capsule and smooth seeds distinguish this genus from 

 Justicia. 



1. Monechma bracteatum, Hochst. in Flora, v. 24 (1841) p. 375. 

 An erect herb 1-2 ft. high ; stems softly pubescent, very little branched, 

 subquadrangular, grooved. Leaves I5-2I by |-| in., oblong-lanceolate, 

 subobtuse, glabrous or nearly so, base tapering into the petiole; main 

 nerves few, 4-6 pairs ; petioles g-f in. long. 41owers in axillary sub- 

 sessile spikes 1-2 in. long ; bracts g by ^ in., elliptic, obtusely rounded 

 and mucronate at the apex, tapering at the base into a shoi't stalk, 

 reticulately veined, hairy on both sides, the margins densely ciliate with 

 long white hairs ; bracteoles Jg in. long, ovate, lanceolate, liairy. Calyx 

 I in. long, densely hairy, divided almost to the base ; segments linear- 

 subulate. Corolla ^ in. long, pubescent outside ; upper lip -^j^ in. long, 

 oblong, rounded and entire at the apex ; lower lip ^ in. long, obovate, 

 subequally 3-lobed, the lobes about y^^ in. deep, rounded. Filaments of the 

 anthers glabrous; lower anther-cells with a white appendage. Ovary densely 

 hairy ; style nearly glabrous; stigma minutely 2-lobed. Capsules | by 

 g in., clothed with somewhat deflexed hairs, the upper part above the 

 stalk almost orbicular, shortly and bluntly pointed, 2-seeded ; solid 

 stalk rather narrow, yL. in. long, Seeds nearly i in. in diam., orbicular, 

 flat, yellow, smooth and shining, quite glabrous. C. B. Clarke, in Dyer, 

 n. Trop. Afr. v. 5 (1900) p. 214.— Flowers : Nov. 



Rare. Gujarat: Porbandar (Kathiawar), Cookel, Wbodrow '. The plant has been 

 grown in the Botanic Garden of the College of Science at I'oona from seed obtained 

 at Porbandar. 



34. ADHATODA, Nees. 



Tall shrubs. Leaves entire, attenuated at each end. F'Io\A'ers sub- 

 sessile in the axils of opposite bracts, in axillary and terminal pedunculate 

 spikes often forming a thyrsus at the ends of the branches or fascicled 

 in the upper axils ; bracts herbaceous, elliptic or oblong, exceeding the 

 calyx ; bracteoles subsimilar, nearly as large as the bracts. Calyx shortly 

 campanulate ; lobes 5, imbricate, the 2 lowest often subconuate. Corolla 



