406 cix. ACANTHACEJE. (C. B. Clarke.) \_Cardanthera. 



Annual, 6-12 in., erect, branched, viscid. Leaves 1-1| m - obtuse, base much 

 attenuate or petioled. Flowers very numerous ; cymes dichasial, going off into sym- 

 podes; upper branches of the cyme in appearance scorpioid with distant flowers, i. e. 

 at each bifurcation one branch with one flower is suppressed ; bracts g to in., ovate 

 or elliptic; bracteoles small or 0. Sepals in., linear, unequal. Corolla in., 

 puberulous ; lobes twisted to the left ; palate not transversely plicate. Anthers sub- 

 quadrate ; posterior stamens reduced to filaments. Ovary glabrous, tip glandular- 

 hairy ; style sparsely hairy. Capsule % in., bearing seeds from the base. Seeds 40-60, 

 ovoid, slightly compressed, tbe white fine hairs starting out on all sides when 

 moistened ; reVmacula conical, slightly curved, scarcely hardened. Possibly a distinct 

 genus, resembling Brillantaisia except that it is the posterior stamens that are imper- 

 fect in this. 



VII, HVGROPHIIiA, Sr. 



Herbs, (in H< spinosa) spinescent. Leaves opposite, lanceolate or obovate, 

 entire. Flowers sessile, in terminal heads or in axillary whorls ; bracts 

 elliptic or lanceolate ; bracteoles oblong or lanceolate, shorter than the 

 calyx. Calyx tubular, 5-fid (or in H. spinosa 4-partite) ; teeth lanceolate or 

 linear. Corolla blueish-purple, nearly glabrous ; tube ventricose at the apex ; 

 limb deeply 2-lipped, oblong, straight. Stamens didynamous, posterior 

 similar to the anterior, or smaller, or rudimentary, filaments glabrous ; 

 anthers oblong, cells equal, divaricate or connate at the base. Ovary oblong, 

 tip hairy ; style long hairy, stigma simple linear. Capsule linear or 

 narrowly oblong, bearing seeds from the base, 40-100-seeded, or in H. spi- 

 nosa 2-8-seeded. Seeds ovoid, compressed, elastically white-hairy when 

 wetted ; retinacula hardened, curved and acute. Species 18, tropical and 

 subtropical, 



Subgenus. Euhygrophila. Unarmed. Calyx 5-toothed. Capsule 

 with 8-100 minute seeds. 



* Spikes terminal. 



1, K. polysperma, T. Anders, in Journ. Linn. Soc. xi. 456 ; small, 

 procumbent, leaves oblong or ovate nearly entire glabrous or puberulous, 

 bpikes terminal dense oblong or linear, fertile stamens 2. Boiss. Fl. Orient. 

 iv. 519. Justicia polysperma, Jttoxb. Hort. Seng. 3, and FL Ind. i. 119; 

 Wall. Cat. 2483. Ruellia uliginosa, Wall. Cat. 2378, partly. Hemiadel- 

 phis polysperma, Nees in Wall. PI. As. Ear. iii. 80, and in DC. Prodr. xi. 

 80 (excl. syn. Both) ; Wight III. t. 164 b, fig. 3, and Ic. t. 1492 ; Griff. 

 Notul. iv. 135. 



Throughout INDIA in wet places, alt. 0-5000 ft., from the Punjab and Bhotan to 

 the S. Dfcccan and Malacca. DISTEIB. Cabul. 



Annual, 6-18 in., branching and rooting. Leaves |-1| in., from narrowly oblong 

 to ovate, base spathulate or petioled. Spikes 1-5 in., somewhat pubescent; bracts 

 -i in., broadly elliptic, imbricate ; bracteoles ^ in., lanceolate. Sepals in., linear, 

 hairy. Corolla in., slender, pubescent, pale blue or white. Anthers oblong, cells 

 slightly divaricate at the base ; posterior stamens reduced to teeth. Ovary hairy at 

 the apex. Capsule -* in. ; seeds 20-32. Tbe examples from Tenasserim and 

 Malacca are larger and more glabrous ; the capsules \ in. 



2. H. Serpyllum, T. Anders, in Journ. Linn. Soc. ix. 456 ; procum- 

 bent, leaves small short-petioled ovate or oblong hairy, spikes ovate or 

 shortly oblong, anthers of the posterior stamens half as long as of the 

 anterior. Euellia polysperma, Itoth Nov. Sp. 305. Adenosma polysperma, 

 Sprena. Syst. ii. 829. Physichilus Serpyllum, Nees in Hook. Comp. Bot. 



