cix. ACANTHACE^E. (C. B. Clarke.) 417 



imbricate, each usually 3-fld. ; bracteoles 0. Sepals 5, one ovate, nervose, 

 the others linear like bracts. Corolla small ; tube slender, cylindric ; lobes 

 5, slightly unequal, rounded, contorted in the bud, patent in flower. Stamens 

 4, didynamous ; anthers subsimilar, 2-celled ; cells parallel, shortly oblong, 

 base minutely mucronate. Ovary-cells 2-ovuled ; style long-linear, hairy, 

 stigma simple linear. Capsule clavate, compressed parallel to the septum, 

 4-seeded ; placentaB dehiscing elastically from the base of the capsule, raising 

 the seeds with them. Seeds compressed, discoid, densely elasticallv white- 

 hairy when wetted. Species 10, all Tropical and African, one Indian and 

 one Arabian. 



P. parviflora ? Willd. Sp. PL iii. 342 ; hairy, leaves opposite unequal 

 ovate, bracts orbicular or reniform membranous becoming in fruit whitened 

 nervose. T. Anders, in Journ. Linn. Soc. ix. 461. Micranthus oppositifolius, 

 Wendl. Ols. 39. Euellia imbricata, Vahl Symb. ii. 73 ; Roxb. _Fl. Ind. iii. 

 48 ; Wall. Cat. 2353. E. dorsiflora, Retz. Obs. vi. 31. ^Etheilema reniforme, 

 Nees in Wall. PL As. Rar. iii. 94, and in DC. Prodr. xi. 261 ; Wight 

 Ic. t. 1533 ; Dalz. $ Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 192. M. parviflorum, Spreng. Syst. 

 ii. 826. M. mucronata ?,' Griff. Notul. iv. 137. ^Etheilema, Griff. Notul. 

 iv. 136. 



Throughout INDIA (except the N.W.), alt. 0-3000 ft., from the Himalaya to 

 CEYLON and Tenasserim ; common in Bengal both in the plains and in the lower 

 hills. DISTEIB. Madagascar, Tropical Africa. 



A prostrate, closely-branched herb ; branches often flagellate, 2-3 ft. Leaves 3 

 by 1 in., acuminate at both ends, obscurely pubescent, petiole % by 1 in. ; leaves of 

 lateral branches -! in. Spikes |-2 in., densely or thinly hairy; bracts -^ -in. 

 Calyx % in., hairy. Corolla J in., nearly white. Stamens glabrous. Capsule % in. ; 

 valves with rigid backs and scarious sides. Seeds T ' g in. diam. 



XIY. D2BDAZ.ACANTHUS, T. Anders. 



Shrubs or perennial herbs. Leaves opposite, petioled, entire or obscurely 

 toothed, lineolate by raphides. Spikes linear with distant flowers, or dense 

 or capitate ; bracts usually large ; bracteoles linear-lanceolate, hardly so 

 long as the calyx. Corolla-tube linear, long, widened only near the top or 

 in a few species from the middle ; lobes obovate, twisted to the left in 

 bud, horizontal in flower, blue, rarely rose, veined. Stamens 2, glabrous ; 

 anthers narrowly oblong, 2-celled, muticous, exserted or subincluded. Ovary 

 glabrous, 4-ovuled; style long, sparingly hairy, stigma simple linear. 

 Capsule clavate, base solid cyliudric. Seeds normally 4, compressed, discoid, 

 densely finely plastically hairy when wetted. Species 17, Indian and 

 Malayan. 



This genus, in the long corolla and 2 stamens with muticous anthers, crreatly 

 simulates Eranthemum ; the species are in general easily distinguished by the bracts 

 much exceeding the calyx ; in D. microstachyus & concanensis, however, the bracts 

 are small, and they can only be recognized by their twisted corolla-lobes. 



* Corolla lower half cylindric, upper half ventricose or funnel- shaped. 



1. D. tubiflorus, T. Anders, in Journ. Linn. Soc. ix. 485; leaves 

 elliptic acuminate at both ends glabrate, spikes axillary simple dense, corol. 

 If in. upper 'half ventricose. 



E. BENGAL (? Mishmee) ; Griffith (Kew Distrib. n. 6122). 



Stem upwards and innovations pubescent. Leaves 8% by 3 in., obscurely crenu- 

 late, lineolate with raphides on both surfaces; nerves 12 pair; petiole 1 in. BJ**U 

 VOL. IV. E e 



