Order 8T.— ACANTHACE.E. 535 



opposite, solitary or fascicled flowers. Bracts leafy, often stalked. Fls. 



Wge, showy, blue or purple. 



*. D. strepens Nees. Herb erect •. lvs. ovate or obovate-oblong, somewhat repand, 

 cuneate at base and petiolote, smootnish, or thinly downy; ped. axillary, very short, 

 about 3 (1 to 4)-fio\vered ; bractlets lance-oval, equaling or exceeding the calyx; 

 sep. lance-linear, ciliate, a little shorter than the tube of the long-funnel-form corolla. 

 Dry soils, Mid. TV. and S. States, common. Plant variable, 9 to 1G' high, often 

 branched, nearly smooth. Lvs. large, 2 to 3' long, the fls. half or two-thirds as 

 long. Caps, oblanceolate, 6-seeded or by abortion fewer. Hooks grooved. Jn. — 

 Sept. (Ruellia strepens L.) 



3 D. ciliosus Nees. Herb erect, hoary -hirsute ; lvs. ovate, the lower obovate, 

 upper oblong, all obtusish at apex and abrupt at base, subsessile; fls. subsossile, 

 with oblong or lanceolate bracts not longer than calyx ; sep. setaceous, hairy, not 

 half as long as the long lube of the corolla. — Rich soils W. and S. States. Plant If 

 or more high. Lvs. IS to 30" long, the fls. nearly as long. A variety has smaller 

 leaves almost dentate. (Ruellia ciliosa Ph.) 



ft. hybridus. Low, decumbent, very hirsute. — Near Savannah (Feay). Stom3 

 2 to 4' long, with short internodes. Fls. sometimes shortened. 



3 D. noctifiorus Nees. — Cal. segm. linear-lanceolate, thrice shorter than the very 

 long corolla tube. Otherwise as in D. ciliosus. — Ga. (near Savannah, Lo Conte) 

 and Fla. (Ruellia tubiflora Le Conte.) 



5. CRYPHIACAN THUS, Nees. (Gr. icpvfaog, clandestine, aicavdoc.) 



Calyx deeply 5-parted, spreading in fruit; corolla bell-funncl-form, 

 limb equal ; stamens 4, included ; anthers sagittate ; stigma simple ; 

 capsule oblong, terete, 12 to 16-seedcd from the base ; seeds roundish, 

 cordate, compressed, silky, subtended with hooks. — Herbs villous, with 

 corm-likc base and fasciculate roots. Ped. 3-flowered. 



C. Barbadense Nees. Caulescent; lvs. ovate, cuneate at base and petiolate, 

 entire or undulate-dentate, smoothish cr hairy ; ped. somewhat cymous, longer 

 than the petiole or even than the leaves ; cal. segm. subulate-acuminate, glandu- 

 lar, hirsute ; cor. tube shorter than the limb. — If. A low, leafy plant, Va. to Ph., 

 Tex. Mex. &c. (Nees). (Ruellia tuberosa and clandestina L.) 



8. HYGROPH'ILA, R, Br. (Gr. vypfj, waters, 4>ia£u), to love.) 

 Calyx tubular, about half 5-cleft, with narrow, equal segments ; corolla 

 biltibiate, ringent, lower lip convex and rugulous in the midst, trifid ; 

 stamens 4, didynamous, not exserted ; anther cells divergent-sagittate, 

 violet-colored ; stigma simple, subulate ; capsule G-striate, co-seeded 

 from the base ; seeds small. — Herbs in swamps, Arc., stoloniferous, 

 4-angled. Fls. clustered in the axils. 



H. laciistris Nees. Erect, subsimple, minutely pubescent ; lvs. lanceolate, 

 narrowed to both ends, sessile, subentire ; verticils many-flowered ; cal. smooth- 

 ish. — Borders of lakes near N. Orleans. (Hale). Stems 1 to 2f high above the 

 water, very straight and simple. Fls. white. (Ruellia justicii-eflora Hook ) 



7. DICLIP'TERA, Juss. (Gr. die, double, /.'Ae/w, to shut; referring 

 to the 2-valvcd capsule.) Calyx 5-parted, equal, sessile, in a bracted 

 head ; corolla resupinate, bilabiate, upper lip 3-toothed ; stamens 2 ; 

 anther cells straight, placed one above the other ; capsule 4-seeded ; 

 dissepiment and walls separating from the back of the valves and curv- 

 ing upwards ; seeds discoid, on hooks. — Herbs with the small flowers 

 in axillary, involucrate, finally terminal heads. 



D. brachiata Spr. St. G-angled, braehiate-branehed. glabrous ; lvs. ovate-oblong, 

 subentire, obtusely acuminate, contracted at base to a long petiole ; hds. few- 

 flowered, sessile or the lower on a leafy peduncle, the upper at length spicatc ; 

 involucrate lvs. very unequal ; capsule oval the valves first curving backwards, 



