23. EuNGiA.] 104. ACANTHACEM. 



23. RUNGIA, Nees. 



Herbs, rarely shrubs, with entire leaves and small usually blue 

 sometimes white flowers iu dense secund bracteate spikes with the 

 bracts 2- or -i-ranked, usually with scarious margins, dorsal some- 

 times barren, bracteoles similar to the bracts or narrow. Calyx 

 small with 5 linear-lanceolate segments. Corolla with short tube ; 

 upper lip emarginate, shorter than the 3-lobed lower lip. Stamens 

 2, anther cells 2, subequal parallel or usually superposed with the 

 lower cell muticous or white-tailed. Stigma minutely 2-fid. Ovules 

 2 in each cell. Capsule ovoid or oblong, placentae with the retinacula 

 rising elastically from the base scattering the seeds. Seeds normally 

 4, compressed, orbicular, glabrous, minutely or strongly concentric- 

 ally verrucose. 



Flowers under "lb" long. Spikes 1-sided, bracts •12--17" . . .1. parviflora. 

 Flowers "S". Spikes with -i-farious bracts '2" long, less 1-sided . . 2. repens. 



1. R. parviflora, Nees. Hasa-arak', S. 



A diffuse or erect herb with stems6"-2ft.long, terete below, faintly 

 4-angled above, with recurved pubescence at the angles. Leaves from 

 linear or narrowly lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, l-2o" long, 

 narrowed both ends, nearly glabrous except on the nerves, very 

 lineolate. Flowers very small, blue or purple, in clustered secund 

 spikes •25-'6''' long with two I'ows of imbricate barren ovate to lanceo- 

 late bracts and two ventral rows of suborbicular or obovate floAvering 

 bracts '12" diam. including the Avide scarious margins. Capsule •08" 

 compressed with the flattened broader faces thinly membranous, 

 the lateral narrow faces coriaceous and elastically spreading from the 

 apex and falling off at the same time as the placentae rise from the 

 base. 



A common weed throughout the province, erect in open grassy places in the 

 fore.sts or prostrate in pastures. Fl., Fr. most of the year, chiefly c.s. 



All specimens from our area appear to belong to the variety pectinata, Clarke 

 {R. pectinata, Nees), in which the flowering bracts are hairy and the barren bracts 

 mucronate or cuspidate. 



L, sometimes slightly pubescent beneath, sec. n. very oblique, 4-7. Petiole •2--3". 

 Dorsal bracts "17", often snb-aristate with wliite or reddish scarious margins, 1-3- 

 nerved ; anterior and bracteoles with the membranous margin often with a sinus at 

 the tip and the green centre mucronate or sub-aristate. Calyx "1", segments silky. 

 Corolla -12", upper lip usually colourless simple acute, shorter than the spreading 

 purple or blue obtusely 3-lobed lower lip. 



2. R. repens, Nees. 



A procumbent branched herb with strigillose stems 6-12" and 

 rather small lanceolate leaves S-l'b" long. Flowers "S" blue, or pale \ 

 rose {Ritchie), in spikes l-2*5" long, conspicuous from the closely 

 regulai'ly imbricated 4-f arious large broadly-elliptic scarious-bordered 

 bracts which are 2" long. Capsule •25-3", minutely thinly hairy 

 {Clarke). 



Said to occur throughout India, Clarke ; but the only specimens seen from our 

 area are from the Rajmahal Hills. Rahmahal, Wallieh ! Sahibganj, Eurz\ Fl. 

 Dec-Jan. 



Branches sometimes rooting at the nodes. Bracts sometimes hairy, the green 

 part lanceolate in shape apiculate or aristate, sometimes hairy. Filaments white, 

 anthers blue. 



690 



