182 ACANTHACEM. \ Blepharis. 



Fruit a small oblong capsule, seed-bearing throughout. Seeds 

 15-30 in each cell, small, globose or cuboid, glandular or nearly 

 smooth when mature, retinacula none, hilum hollowed. - Species 

 abont 40, in S. E. Asia, .Malaya, Australia and Brazil. 



S. glutinosa, 0. Kuntze Rev. Gen. i, 497 ; Ebermaiera glutinosa, Wall. ; 

 F. B. I. iv, 396 ; Prain Beng. PL 798. E. glauca, T. Anders, in Jcurn. 

 Linn. Soc. ix, 450 {not of Nees). 



Stems many, 12-18 in long, trailing, pubescent. Leaves all opposite, 

 shortly stalked, about H in. long, elliptic, subobtuse. entire, tapering 

 to the base, minutely prbescent or glabrous. Heads pseudo-axillary, on 

 short branches, 2-8 — fid., fuibglobose ; bracts £ in. long, narrowly obovate- 

 oblong, viscid. Calyx-segments viscidly pubescent, one slightly longer 

 than the others. Corolla ? in. long, bluish with dark veins, pubescent 

 outside. Stigma with one lobe oblong, the other bifid. 



Abundant within the area, often met with in rice-fields and on swampy 

 ground. Distrib. Punjab Plain. Rajputana, and C. India to N. and 

 C. Bengal, also in Sylhet. 



5. BLEPHARIS, Juss. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 478. 



Herbs or undershvnbs, often rigid or prickly. Leaves opposite or 

 4 in a whorl, subentire or toothed and sometimes prickly. Spikes 

 terminal or on suppressed Literal branches, strobilate, 4-ranked or 

 capitate and few or 1-flowered ; lower bracteoles leaf-like, upper 

 linear. Calyx deeply 4-partite ; segments unequal, in opposite pairs, 

 one of the larger pair emarginate or 2-lobed, the 2 inner segments 

 much shorter and narrower. Corolla 2-lipped, tube rigid, upper lip 

 subobsolete ; lower spreading, 3-lobed, purple blue or white. Stamens 

 didynamous ; filaments thick, rigid, connective of the lower stamens 

 produced ; anthers with one large cell densely bearded on the margin, 

 the other cell small and obsolete. Disk annular, inconspicuous. 

 •Ovary glabrous, with 2 ovules in each cell, style linear, stigma 

 shortly 2-fid. Fruit an oblong or ellipsoid capsule, 2- or 4-seeded. 

 Seeds compressed, suborbicular, echinate or ciliate. — Species about 50, 

 mostly African, 5 in India. 



Flowers in short heads, solitary or 2 or 3 together. — Herbs : — 



Leaves petioled, up to 2| in. long, thin acute . 1. B. boerhavioefolia. 



Leaves subsessile, J-l in. long, fleshy, obtuse . 2. B. molluginifoha. 



Tlowers in strobiliform spikes. — A small shrub 



with a very short stem 3. B. sindica. 



