202 



ACANTHACEAE. 



[Vol. III. 



i. Calophanes oblongifolia (Michx.) 

 Don. Calophanes. (Fig. 3370.) 



Ruellia biflora L. Sp. PI. 635. 1753? 



R. oblongifolia Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 23. 1803. 



Calophanes oblom?ifolia Don; Sweet, Brit. Fl. 



Gard. (II) pi. 181. 1833. 

 Dipteracanlhus biflorus Nees, Linnaea, 16: 294. 



1842. 



Rootstocks horizontal, slender. Stems 

 slender, erect, simple, or branched below, 

 pubescent or puberulent, obtusely 4-angled, 

 6 / -i5 / high, rather stiff. Leaves ascending 

 or erect, oblong or oval, rounded at the apex, 

 somewhat narrowed at the base, very short- 

 petioled, or sessile, pubescent or glabrate, 

 W-\" long; flowers commonly solitary in 

 the axils; calyx-segments filiform, hirsute, 

 exceeding the oblong obtuse bractlets; cor- 

 olla blue, or mottled with purple, S // -i2 // 

 long, slightly 2-lipped, its tube enlarged 

 above; capsule oblong, about one-half the 

 length of the calyx; anther-sacs mucronate- 

 aristate at the base. 



In sandy pine barrens, Virginia to Florida, 

 mainly near the coast. June-Sept. 



2. RUELLIA L. Sp. PI. 634. 1753. 

 Perennial herbs, or shrubs, mostly pubescent, with entire or rarly dentate leaves, and 

 large violet blue white or yellow flowers, solitary or clustered in the axils, or cymose in ter- 

 minal panicles. Calyx 5-cleft, or 5-parted, the segments narrow. Corolla funnelform or 

 salverform, the tube usually narrow, slightly enlarged above, the limb spreading, 5 lobed, 

 the lobes obtuse, mostly nearly equal, sinistrorsely convolute in the bud. Stamens 4, in- 

 cluded or exserted; anther-sacs not mucronate at the base. Ovules 3-10 in each cavity of the 

 ovary; apex of the style recurved; stigma simple, or of 2 unequal lobes. Capsule oblong 

 or club-shaped, compressed or terete, 6-20-seeded. Seeds compressed, ovate or orbicular, at- 

 tached by their edges to the retinacula. [Named for I. Ruel or de la Ruelle, 1474-1537, an 

 early French herbalist.] 



About 200 species, mainly of tropical America, a few in Africa, Asia and Australia. Besides 

 the following, some 5 others occur in the southern and southwestern United States. 



Flowers sessile or nearly so. 



Calyx-segments linear-lanceolate, scarcely exceeding the capsule. 



Calyx-segments filiform-linear, much exceeding the capsule. 

 Flowers peduncled; peduncle with two large bracts at the summit. 



1. R. she pens. 



2. R. ciliosa. 



3. R. pednnculala. 



i. Ruellia strepens L. 



Ruellia strepens L,- Sp. PI. 634. 1753. 



Glabrate, or somewhat pubescent; stem 

 erect, slender, simple, or branched, 4-sided, 

 i-4 high, the branches ascending. Leaves 

 oblong, oval, or ovate, petioled, acute or sub- 

 acute at the apex, narrowed at the base, 3 / -6 / 

 long; petioles 2 // -io // long; flowers solitary or 

 several together in the axils; calyx-segments 

 linear-lanceolate, shorter than the corolla- 

 tube, slightly pubescent or ciliate, 8 // -i2 // 

 long, Yz"-\' r wide; corolla blue, ij^-2'long, 

 the limb nearly as broad, the tube about as 

 long as the throat and limb; capsule club- 

 shaped, longer than or equalling the calyx. 



In dry woods, Pennsylvania to Wisconsin, 

 south to Florida and Texas. May-July. 



Ruellia strepens micrantha (Engelm. & Gray) 



Brittun. 

 Dipteracanlhus micranthus Engelm. & Gray, 



Bost. Journ. Xat. Hist. 5: 257. 1845. 

 Ruellia strepens var. cleislantha A. Gray, Syn. 



Fl. 2: Part 1, 327. 1878. 



Flowers mostly cleistogamous; leaves often 

 narrower. Range of the type. 



Smooth Ruellia. (Fig. 337 r. ) 



