694 XLV. ACANTHACEAE 



2. ADHATODA, Nees. 



Adhatoda Vasica, Nees. Syn. Justicia Adhatoda, Linn. 



A gregarious shrub, abundant in the sub-Himalayan tract, and ascending 

 the outer hills to 4,000 ft. It appears in great quantity on waste places, where 

 it persists and spreads owing to its immunity from damage by browsing. It 

 also forms a dense undergrowth in riverain forests of Acacia Catechu and 

 DaJbergia Sissoo, and sometimes also in mixed deciduous forests. 



3. PHLOGACANTHUS, Nees. 



Phlogacanthus thyrsiflorus, Nees. 



An evergreen shrub with a large thj^rsoid inflorescence of handsome 

 brick-red flowers, frequent as an undergrowth species in moist, shady places 

 in parts of the sub-Himalayan tract and in Burma. 



4. STROBILANTHES, Blume. 



This genus contains about 160 species of handsome flowering shrubs, 

 many of which are of great importance in Indian forestry as undergro^vth 

 species. The majority are shade-bearing, and many are gregarious, forming 

 dense masses over considerable areas and having an important bearing on the 

 natural reproduction of trees. Although several species flower and fruit 

 annually, many, like bamboos, flower and fruit at intervals of several years, 

 the interval between successive flowerings being as a rule constant for each 

 species, but varying with different species. After the flowering and fruiting 

 the whole plant dies, and the folloM'ing year the ground is covered vrith young 

 seedlings commencing the next generation ; this periodic dying is of impor- 

 tance, as will be seen below, in connexion with silvicultural operations for the 

 eradication of the plant. When gregarious flowering takes place, bees are 

 attracted in large numbers, while R. M., writing in the Indian Forester, vol. xx 

 (1894), p. 130, remarks on the large number of jungle-fowl which were attracted 

 by the seed during a gregarious seeding in the Nilgiris. An interesting general 

 account of the more important Indian species is given in Gamble's Manual 

 oj Indian Timbers (1902), pp. 518 et seq., which may be referred to. See also 

 Indian Forester, vol. xiv (1888), p. 153. The members of this genus are charac- 

 teristic mainly of hilly country, the most notable exception being *S^. auricidatus, 

 Nees, a common plant in the sal forests of the sub-Himalayan tract and the 

 Indian Peninsula. 



In no part of India is this genus so well represented as in the Nilgiris and 

 other hills of southern India, where the plants reach a larger size than else- 

 where and are found in profusion, with great variety and beauty of flowering, 

 in the shola forests. S.foliosus, T. And., is one of the largest species, the stems 

 attaining 4-6 in. diameter. Perhaps the commonest and best known species 

 of the Nilgiris is S. Kunthianus, T. And., which prefers dry slopes on the 

 eastern sides of the hills where there is little or no tree forest ; this species 

 flowers at intervals of four to six years, giving a bright blue colour to the 

 landscape. The genus is also M^ell represented in the Himalaya and the hilly 

 parts of Assam, Burma, and the Indian Peninsula. 



In the eastern Himalaya, among the commonest species are S. pectinatus^ 



