188 ACAXTHACE^. [ Ruellia 



Abundant within the area., especially in bushy places. Flowers during 

 several months of the year. Distrib. Throughout India from the 

 Punjab and Assam to Ceylon, extending to E. Africa. The plant is used 

 by natives as a remedy for diseases of the ear. 



2. R. patula, Jacq. Misc. Bot. ii, 35? ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. Hi, 45 ; F. B. I. 



iv, 412 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 656. 



or 



_ abruptly 

 narrowed, closely pubescent on both surfaces, petioles j-f in. long. Flow- 

 ers subsessile, solitary or 2-3 together in the axils; bracteoles leaflike, less 

 than ^-in. long (including the short flat stalk), elliptic, obtuse, densely 

 pubescent and ciliate. Calyx 5-partite, 5 in. long, densely pubescent ; 

 segments linear-lanceolate, very acute. Corolla pale greyish-purple, 

 I-I5 in. long, hairy outside ; tube narrowly cylindric below ; funnel- 

 shaped above ; lobes |-in. long, elliptic or suborbicular. Ovary glab- 

 rous except the tip, style hairy. Capsule % \ . in. long, clavate. glabrous- 

 Seeds suborbicular, nearly glabrous, but with a dense fringe of hair 

 on the margin. 



Common in uncultivate 1 ground, chieay in the drier western portion of the 

 area, as in Bundelkhand and Marwara and in the ravine tracts skirting 

 the districts of Delhi, Agra and Etawah. Flowers during the hot and 

 rainy seasons. Distrib. Punjab Plain, "Rajputana, Sind and south- 

 wards through the drier portions of W. and S. India to Ceylon, extend- 

 ing to Arabia, Tropical Africa and Ava. 



3. R. suffruticosa, Boa*. Fl. Ind. Hi. 53 j F. B. I. iv, 413; Watt E- 

 B. ; Praia Beag. PI. 803. Dipteracanthus iSibua, Nees in Wall. PL As. Rar. 

 Hi, 81. 



An erect pubescent undershrub, 1-2 ft, high. Roots stout, often with fusi- 

 form swellings. Stems herbaceous, annually produced from a short creep- 

 ing woody rhizome. Leaves petioled, lanceolate elliptic or oblanceolate, 

 the lower ones usually smaller and often suborbicular, obtuse or subacute, 

 entire, villous with white hairs on both surfaces especially on the nerves 

 and veins beneath, margins ciliate. Flower.} solitary, terminal, subsessile ; 

 bracteoles resembling the leaves but smaller and narrower, f in. long, 

 stalked. Calyx-sag merits £ in. long, linear, puberulous or nearly glabrous. 

 Corolla white, l£-2 in. long, tube slender, limb subregalar. Capsule 1J in. 

 long, oblong, glabrous, often tinged with purple. Seeds, few. 



Saharanpur district (Royle), Moradabad (T. Thomson), also in the fire- 

 exposed tracts of Pilibhit, N. Oudh and Gorakhpur (Duthie). Flowers 

 April to July. Eoxburgh states that the flowers open at sunset and drop 

 off on the following morning. Disteib. N. and W. Bengal and in Chota 

 Nagpur, also in Upper Burma (Collett). The roots of this plant are said 

 to be used by the Santals for producing fermentation in the grain from 

 which they manufacture their beer. Similar tuberous roots occur in the 



