432 cix. ACANTHACE^E. (C. B. Clarke.) [Strolilanthes. 



A shrub, 2-5 ft. Leaves 4 by If in. ; nerves 7-8 pair, not conspicuously parallel; 

 petiole | in. Spikes 3-8 in., axillary, simple or compound, and running into terminal 

 panicles; flowers opposite, lowest pair usually distant; bracts % in., elliptic or oblong, 

 attenuated upwards; bracteoles |-| in., narrow. Calyx viscidly hairy, teeth lanceo- 

 late; calyx in fruit enlarged often in. or more, split to the base into lanceolate 

 segments. Corolla 1J in., densely pubescent without ; linear-base of the tube ^in., 

 very narrow, ventricose portion ^ by 3 in., oblique, lobes ovate. Filaments glabrous 

 except near the base; anthers large, pendulous, subexserted. Capsule % in., 4-seeded. 

 Seeds more than | in., ovoid, thinning towards the apex, smooth, hairless. 



VAE. microphyllus, Nees in DC. Prodr. xi. 104 ; leaves -! in., spikes very weak 

 few-fld. Ceylon. The type specimen of this has no fruit ; but Walker, n. 122, has 

 similar small Jeaves and fruit exactly as of S. viscosus type. 



VAB. digitalis ; bracts abbreviated, spikes elongate slender, minutely deciduously 

 cinereous- woolly not hairy nor viscous. Endopogon digitalis, Nees in DC. Prodr. xi. 

 104 (sp.). Ceylon; Walker. This is possibly nearer 8. exareolatus,\)nt the example 

 is in young flower. 



VAE. arguta ; leaves more rigid more acutely (though minutely) toothed, spikes 

 dense, bracts ^- in. oblong imbricate, calyx minutely cinereous-woolly. Endopogon 

 argutus, Nees in DC. Prodr. xi. 104. Ceylon; Gardner. The examples referred 

 here by Nees (probably on the characters of the leaves) having fulvous viscid hairy 

 spikes seem nearer S. viscosus, T. Anders, type. 



^ 6. S. stenodon, Clarice ; glabrous, leaves ovate acuminate crenate, 

 spikes linear scarcely interrupted, bracts short obovate, calyx divided half- 

 way down, corolla-lobes narrowly oblong. 



CEYLON; Matelle East, Beckett, Thwaites, C. P. n. 38,74. 



Leaves 4 by 2 in., shortly narrowed into the petiole ; nerves 8 pair; petiole 1 in.; 

 leaves white underneath in Beddome's Ceylon specimen. Spikes 2-5 in., axillary, 

 simple or compound, running into terminal panicles; bracts \ in.; bracteoles \ in., 

 narrowly oblong. Calyx glabrous, teeth lanceolate. Corolla glabrous in bud, 

 white-hairy within ; cylindric base g in., very narrow ; ventricose tube 5 in. long and 

 broad ; lobes |-| in. Anthers exserted, pendulous. Ovules 2 in each cell. Capsule 

 not seen. A remarkable plant with the habit, inflorescence and bracts of Stenosi- 

 phonium Russellianum ; the narrow lobes of the corolla are unlike any neighbouring 

 species or genus. 



7. S. exareolatus, Clarice ; leaves elliptic acuminate at both ends 

 slightly undulate crenate glabrous, spikes linear lax hairy, calyx narrow 

 overtopping the bracts divided less than half-way down. S. consanguineus, 

 T. Anders, in Thwaites Enum. 226, and in Journ Linn. Soc. ix. 465, partly. 

 Stenosiphonium diandrum, Nees in DC. Prodr. xi. 105, not of Wight. 

 Endopogon consanguineus, Nees I. c. as to the Ceylon material. 



CEYLON, alt. 3000 ft. ; Walker. 



A shrub. Leaves 3 by 1| in.; nerves 6 pair; petiole f in. Spikes 2-4, \n., 

 running into terminal panicles ; bracts - in., ovate or oblong ; bracteoles in., 

 narrow. Calyx (in flower) |- in., teeth sublinear; in fruit enlarged. Corolla f in., 

 resembling that of 8. viscosus but smaller. Capsule in., 4-seeded. Seeds scarcely 

 T ' in., ellipsoid, smooth, hairless, without lateral areoles. Near 8. viscosus, differing 

 by^the short bracts, narrow cylindric calyx, smaller flowers and much smaller seeds. 

 As to the synonyms, the type specimens of Nees and T. Anderson, written on by their 

 own hands, are preserved at Kew. 



VAE. densa ; spikes denser, bracts elliptic imbricate often as long as the calyx. 



Ceylon, alt. 2-6000 ft. ; Thtvaites, n. 2002 chiefly, &c. 



8. S. rhytisperma, Clarke ; leaves elliptic acuminate at both ends 

 denticulate thinly white-cottony beneath, spikes linear uninterrupted 

 glabrous, bracts lanceolate about equalling the calyx. S. hypoleucus, T. 

 Anders, in Thwaites Enum. 226, not Endopogon hypoleucus, Nees. 



