ORDER 87. ACANTHACE^E. 535 



opposite, solitary or fascicled flowers. Bracts leafy, often stalked. Fls. 

 large, showy, blue or purple. 



1 D. strepens Nees. Herb erect ; Ivs. ovate or obovate-oblong, somewhat repand, 

 cuneate at lose and petiolate, smoothish or thinly downy; ped. axillary, very short, 

 about 3 (1 to 4)-flowered; bractlets lance- oval, equaling or exceeding the calyx; 

 sep. lance-linear, ciliate, a little shorter than the tube of the loug-funnel-form corolla. 

 Dry soils, Mid. "W. and S. States, common. Plant variable, 9 to 16' high, often 

 branched, nearly smooth. Lvs. large, 2 to 3' long, the fls. half or two-thirds as 

 long. Caps, oblanceolate, 6-seeded or by abortion fewer. Hooks grooved. Jn. 

 Sept. (Ruellia strepens L.) 



2 D. ciliosus Nees. Herb erect, hoary -hirsute ; Ivs. ovate, the lower obovate, 

 upper oblong, all obtusish at apex and abrupt at base, subsessik; fls. subsessile, 

 with oblong or lanceolate bracts not longer than calyx ; sep. setaceous, hairy, not 

 half as long as the long tube of the corolla. Rich soils W. and S. States. Plant If 

 or more high. Lvs. 18 to 30" long, the fls. nearly as long. A variety has smaller 

 leaves almost dentate. (Ruellia ciliosa Ph.) 



(3. HYBRIDUS. Low, decumbent, very hirsute. Near Savannah (Feay). Stems 

 2 to 4' long, with short internodes. Fls. sometimes shortened. 



3 D. noctiflorus Nees. Cal segm. linear-lanceolate, thrice shorter than the very 

 long corolla tube. Otherwise as in D. ciliosus. Ga. (near Savannah, Le Conte) 

 and Fla. (Ruellia tubiflora Le Conte.) 



5. CRYPHIACANTHUS, Nees. (Gr. Kpttytof, clandestine, dicavdog.) 

 Calyx deeply 5-parted, spreading in fruit ; corolla bell-funnel-form, 

 limb equal ; stamens 4, included ; anthers sagittate ; stigma simple ; 

 capsule oblong, terete, 12 to 1 6-seeded from the base ; seeds roundish, 

 cordate, compressed, silky, subtended with hooks. Herbs villous, with 

 corm-like base and fasciculate roots. Ped; 3-flowered. 



C. Barbadense Nees. Caulescent; Ivs. ovate, cuneate at base and petiolate, 

 entire or undulate-dentate, smoothish or hairy ; ped. somewhat cymous, longer 

 than the petiole or even than the leaves ; cal. segm. subulate-acuminate, glandu- 

 lar, hirsute ; cor. tube shorter than the limb. 11 A low, leafy plant, Ya. to Fla., 

 Tex. Mex. &c. (Nees). (Ruellia tuberosa and clandestina L.) 



6. HYGROPH'ILA, R. Br. (Gr. vypfi, waters, ^At'w, to love.) 

 Calyx tubular, about half 5^cleft, with narrow, equal segments ; corolla 

 bilabiate, ringent, lower lip convex and rugulous in the midst, trifid; 

 stamens 4, didynamous, not exserted ; anther cells divergent-sagittate, 

 violet-colored ; stigma simple, subulate ; capsule 6-striate, oo-seeded 

 from the base ; seeds small. -Herbs in swamps, <fec., stoloniferous, 

 4-angled. Fls. clustered in the axils. 



H. lacustris Nees. Erect, subsimple, minutely pubescent ; Ivs. lanceolate, 

 narrowed to both ends, sessile, subentire ; verticils many-flowered ; cal. smooth- 

 ish. Borders of lakes near N. Orleans. (Hale). Stems 1 to 2f high above the 

 water, very straight and simple. Fls, white. (Ruellia justiciasflora Hook.) 



7. DICLIP'TERA, Juss. (Gr. dtf, double, K/te/w, to shut ; referring 

 to the 2-valved capsule.) Calyx 5-parted, equal, sessile, in a bracted 

 head; corolla resupinate, bilabiate, upper lip 3-toothed ; stamens 2; 

 anther cells straight, placed one above the other ; capsule 4-seeded ; 

 dissepiment and walls separating from the back of the valves and curv- 

 ing upwards ; seeds discoid, on hooks. Herbs with the small flowers 

 in axillary, involucrate, finally terminal heads. 



D. brachiata Spr. St. 6-angled, brachiate-branched, glabrous ; Ivs. ovate-oblong, 

 subentire, obtusely acuminate, contracted at base to a long petiole; hds. few- 

 flowered, sessile or the lower on a leafy peduncle, the upper at length spicate ; 

 involucrate Ivs. very unequal ; capsule oval the valves first curving backwards, 



