28 xcviii. ACANTHACE^ (burkill). [ElytraHa, 



Bot. 197 ; T. Anders, in Journ. Linn. Soc. vii. 20 ; Nees in DC. Prod, 

 xi. 63; S. Moore in Journ. Bot. 1880, 196. E. marginata^ Vahl, 

 Enum. i. 108; Beauv. Fl. Owar. ii. 58, t. 93; Nees I.e. ; Hook. Niger 

 Flora, 477; Henriques in Bolet. Soc. Brot. x. 146. E. Z?/?'a^a, Vahl, 

 Enum. i. 106. Juslicia acaulis, Linn. f. Suppl. 84. Tuhijtora acaulisy 

 0. Kze. Rev. Gen. PI. 500; Lindau in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 365. 

 2\ sqtutmosa, Lindau (partly) in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 

 iv. 3b. 289 ; Durand & Wildeman in Comptes-rendus Soc. bot. Belg. 

 xxxvi. 82 ; BUttner in Mitth. Deutsch. Schutzgeb. vi. 234. 



Upper Guinea. Togolaiid, Bilttner, 173. Lagos : Otto, common in forest- 

 paths, Millen, 24 ! Oware and Benin, Beauvois. Lower Niger : Onitsa, Barter, 1302 ! 

 Niger Delta: Grand Bassa, Voytl, 93 ! Caraeroons: Batanga, Bates, 190! Fernando 

 Po, Vogel, 15'! Mann, 20! 



srile Ziand. British East Africa : Niamniam ; by the River Yuru, Schweinfurth, 

 ser. iii. 225 ! 



Ziower Guinea. Island of St. Thomas, Don! Muller (ex Henriques). Gaboon 

 lliver. Jlann, 1002 ! Angola : Goliingo Alto ; Cungulungulo, WeCwitsch, 5209 1 

 Quibolo Rivulbt, Welwitsch, 5210; and without precise locality, Curror ! 



l^ozaml). 3>ist. Portuguese East Africa : Lower Zambesi ; at Tete, Lupata and 

 Sena, Kirk ! 



A form of the plant with entire acuminate leaves, which taper gradually into the 

 obvious petiole and perhaps have more hairs on the upper surface than usual, occurs 

 throughout the Great Western forest region from Lagos (and perhaps also Togoland) 

 to the Gaboon River, and westward to Niamniam Land. It has been mistaken for the 

 American E. tridentata, Vahl, which differs in having obviously keeled narrow sterile 

 bracts, those of E. crenata being scarcely, or not at all, keeled and ovate. The form, 

 common in Innia, with spathulate almost sessile crenate leaves, occurs on the Zambesi. 

 Intermediate forms so unite these two extremes, both in Africa and India, that thev 

 cannot be held distinct. 



4. NELSONIA, B. Br. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. 1073. 



Sepals 4, unequal, lanceolate, the larger often bifid. Corolla very- 

 small, purplish, rose or white; tube slender; limb 2-lipped ; lobes 5, 

 obtuse, patent. Stamens 2, attached above the middle of the tube; 

 anthers 2-celled; their lobes broadly ellipsoid, distinct, more or less 

 divergent, glabrous or ciliate, muticous or minutely spurred. Stigma 

 very shortly 2-lipped; ovules in each cell 8-10. Capsule oblong, acute, 

 bearing seeds from the base, barren upwards. Seeds small, roundly 

 ellipsoid, papillose, attached on minute points without retinacula. A 

 diffuse, softly villous herb. Leaves opposite, elliptic, entire. Spikes 

 ovate or cylindric ; bracts ovate, glandular-villous, closely imbricate ; 

 bracteoles 0. 



A single species, widely diffused through the tropics of both hemispheres, but 

 probably introduced into America. 



1. N, caxnpestris, E. Br. Prod. 481. Stems short; branches 

 diffuse, decumbent, pubescent or villous. Lower leaves large and long 

 petioled ; upper shortly petiolate or subsessile, much smaller, some- 

 times under J in. long, pubescent or canescent. Spikes villous, 

 1-3 in. long. Bracts broadly ovate, 2-3 lin. long. Calyx lJ-2 in. 



