442 cix. ACANTHACEJE. (C. B. Clarke.) [Strobilanthes. 



An erect shrub. Leaves 7 by 2| in., crenate, lineolate on botb surfaces ; nerves 

 6-7 pair beneath, minutely scabrid ; petiole 2 in. Heads several (sometimes 35) to 

 the panicle ; panicle branches slender, glabrescent ; outermost pair of pollen bracts 

 usually ^ in., lanceolate, next pair resembling the proper bracts but empty, patently 

 glistening hairy or quite glabrous; bract proper | in., sessile, green; bracteoles 0. 

 Sepals nearly % in., linear, scarious below, terminating in a dense tuft of multicellular 

 hairs. Corolla 1 in., subsymmetric, pale-blue, hairy within ; ventricose portion 

 longer than the contracted; segments round. Filaments hairy towards the base. 

 Style sparsely hairy. Capsule % in., narrowly ellipsoid. Seeds | in., thin, subquad- 

 rate elliptic, shaggy with adpressed wavy silky hair not elastic when wetted, glabrous 

 on the oblong large areoles. 



37. S. anceps, Nees in DC. Prodr. xi. 189; thinly hairy, leaves ovate 

 acuminate, heads small oblong, bracts obovate obtuse tips green squarrose 

 or reflexed, T. Anders, in Journ. Linn. Soc. ix. 466; Bedd. To. PI. Ind. Or. 

 t. 204. 



CEYLON; alt. 3-6000 ft. , frequent, Gardner, &c. 



A small undershrub, much branched. Leaves 3 by 1| in., obtuse or acuminate at 

 the base, subeutire, with scattered hairs and occasionally a few red glands beneath ; 

 nerves 6 pair; petiole ^ in. Peduncles 0-1^ in., numerous, often in clusters of 3, 

 thickened upwards, 1-headed ; heads ^ in., ovoid, in fruit often 1-2 in. oblong ; bracts 

 \-% in., adpressed downwards often densely red, glandular, tips prominently reflexed; 

 bracteoles 5 in., linear. Calyx % in., divided nearly to the base ; segments linear, 

 thin, hairy, much enlarged in fruit. Corolla f in., slightly pubescent without, slightly 

 hairy within, straight, subsymmetric, white ; contracted base much shorter than the 

 urceolate portion, segments rounded. Filaments with long hairs. Ovary densely 

 glandular at the tip, style glabrous. Capsule ^ in., oblong, pubescent, 4-seeded. 

 Seeds -fa in., ovoid, closely hairy with short thick annulate hairs, elastically springing 

 out when wetted. 



VAE. microstachya leaves and heads more hairy less glandular, calyx very small, 

 corolla more hairy without. S. macrostachya, Eenth. in Flora 1849, 557. Kuellia ? 

 punctata, Nees. in DC. Prodr. xi. 147; Wight Ic. t. 1563. Hills of S. Deccan ; 

 Courtallum, JFi#A; Mangalore, Hohenacker, n. 463 ; Anamallays, Eeddome. Leaves 

 5 in. ; filaments nearly glabrous. Beddome says that this plant is "very scabrous, the 

 hairs arising from harsh papilla." Wight's figure of Ruellia I punctata is drawn from 

 his Herb. Propr. n. 656, preserved at Kew, written up by Wright, and quoted by Nees ; 

 but it is a particularly softly hairy form. As Beddorne remarks, it is not taken up by 

 T. Anderson. 



VAE. ? punctata, T. Anders, in Thwaites Enum. 229 ; leaves small ovate glabrous 

 densely glandular beneath, bracts orbicular glabrous ciliated densely glandular tips 

 not reflexed. Strobilanthes punctatus, Nees in DC. Prodr. xi. 182 (sp.), not of 

 Bedd. Ceylon ; W~alker* Leaves ^-1^ in., subobtuse, base often subcordate. 

 Perhaps specifically distinct, but there is only one example,, without fruit, named 

 by Nees. 



38. S. Arnottianus, Nees in DC. Prodr. xi. 179; softly laxly hairy, 

 leaves cordate-ovate acute, heads obovoid nodding, bracts ovate acuminate, 

 corolla subcampanulate lobes somewhat acute. T. Anders, in Thwaites 

 Enum. 228, and in Jaurn* Linn. Sac. ix. 466; Bedd. Ic. PL Ind. Or. 

 t. 261. 



CEYLON ; Newera Ellia, Walker, &c. 



An undershrub, branches hirsute upwards. Leaves 4 by 2 in., crenate-serrate, 

 thinly hairy on both surfaces ; nerves 4-5 pair ; petiole 1-2 in. Heads J-l in., 

 white-hairy ; bracts -f in., sessile ; bracteoles i-i in., linear-oblong. Calyx -\ in., 

 divided nearly to the base ; segments linear-lanceolate. Corolla f in., straight, sym- 

 metric, almost funnel-shaped from the very short contracted base, slightly hairy within 

 and without, whiteish. Filaments attached very low down the corolla, glabrous ; 

 anthers exserted. Ovary and style hairy. Capsule 4-seeded ; seeds (unripe) hairy. 



