ACANTHACEAE 



817 



1. STROBILANTHES Bl. Ise-hanabi Zoku 



Erect or decumbent herbs or shrubs; leaves opposite, entire or toothed, sometimes the pairs unequal; flowers blue-purple or 

 white, relatively large, solitary in axils of bracts, sessile or short-pedicelled, forming spikes or compound panicles; bracts some- 

 times Icaflike, often small, the bracteoies narrow, small or absent; calyx 5-partcd or toothed, the segments linear, equal or un- 

 equal; corolla-tube ampliate, the limb spreading, the lobes 5, contorted in bud, the upper 2 sometimes more or less connate at 

 <base; stamens usually 4, didymous, the upper pair sometimes reduced to staminodes, the anther-locules alike and parallel, ob- 

 tuse; stigma with one of the lobes reduced; ovules 2 (-3) in each locule; capsules 4-seeded, the retinaculum acute. About 200 



species, chiefly in India, also in Malaysia to China and Japan. 



lA. Subshrub; leaves rather thick, lustrous and minutely reticulate above, lanceolate or broadly so, 8—15 mm. wide; corolla 1.5-2 cm. 



long 1 . 5. japonica 



IB. Herbs, sometimes woody at base; leaves membranous, broadly ovate or obovate-oblong, 3-6 cm. wide; corolla 2-5.5 cm. long. 

 2A. Leaves obovate or ovate-oblong, 8-20 cm. long, 3-6 cm. wide, gradually narrowed at base; young parts brown appressed-puberulent; 



corolla 4.5-5.5 cm. long 2. S. cusia 



2B. Leaves broadly ovate or broadly deltoid-ovate, 4-10 cm. long, 3-6 cm. wide, abruptly narrowed at base to a winged petiole; young 

 parts long white-pubescent; corolla 2-3 cm. long 3. S. oUgantha 



1. StrobUanthes japonica (Thunb.) Miq. Ruellia ja- undulately toothed, glabrous and obsoletely lineolate with the 



ponica Thunb.; RosteUularia japonica (Thunb.) Kanitz cystoliths above, loosely brownish puberulent beneath on 



IsE-HANABi. Subshrub; stems tufted, branched, terete, 30-60 nerves while young, the lateral nerves 5 or 6 pairs; flowers 



cm. long, the nodes puberulent when young, thickened with sessile in a loose terminal spike, the bracts leaflike, rather 



age; leaves rather thick, lanceolate to broadly so, 3-5 cm. long, small, caducous; calyx 1-1.4 cm. long, one segment often larger 



8-15 mm. wide, acute with an obtuse tip, acuminate at base, than the others; corolla 4.5-5.5 cm. long, pale purple. Kyu- 



deep green, lustrous, glabrous above with transversely aligned shu (s. distr.). Ryukyus, Formosa, China, Indochina, and 



linear cystoliths, paler and short appressed-pilose on nerves India. 



beneath, loosely and undulate short-toothed or nearly entire, 3. StrobUanthes oligantha Miq. Suzumushibana, 



the petioles 2-5 mm. long; flowers sessiile, more than 10, in a Suzumushi-so. Perennial herb with short rhizomes; stems 



sessile short spike, the bracts small, leaflike, longer than the 30-60 cm. long, obtusely angled, loosely branched, with long 



calyx; calyx about 6 mm. long; corolla pale purple, 1.5-2 cm. white pubescence on upper part; leaves broadly ovate or 



long; style loosely pubescent. Sept.-Oct. Chinese plant broadly deltoid-ovate, 4-10 cm. long, 3-6 cm. wide, acute with 



long cultivated in our gardens, sometimes naturalized in an obtuse tip, abruptly narrowed at base to the winged petiole, 



warmer areas. Ryukyus, Formosa, China, Indochina, and obtusely toothed, loosely long-pubescent and obsoletely lineo- 



India. late with short linear cystoliths above, long-pubescent beneath 



2. Strobilanthes cusia (Nees) O. Kuntze. Goldfussia especially on nerves, the petioles 1-5 cm. long; flowers few, 

 cusia Nees; S. flaccidifolius Nees Ryukyu-ai. Perennial sessile, in a dense subcapitate short spike, the bracts small, leaf- 

 herb dark green when dried; stems 30-70 cm. long, rather like, longer than the calyx, long-pubescent; calyx 6-10 mm. 

 thick, slightly branched, obtusely angled, brown-puberulent long, long-pubescent; corolla pale purple, 2-3 cm. long, often 

 while young; leaves obovate or ovate-oblong, 8-20 cm. long, loosely pubescent externally; seeds broadly elliptic, about 3 



inclusive of the 1-2 cm long petiole, 3-6 cm. wide, acute with mm. long, brown-puberulent. Aug.-Oct. Woods in moun- 



an obtuse tip, gradually narrowed at the base, mucronately or tains; Honshu (Kinki Distr. and westw.), Shikoku, Kyushu. 



2. CODONACANTHUS Nees Arimori-so Zoku 



Small erect glabrous herbs; leaves entire; flowers rather small, white or pale purple, short-pedicelled, loosely arranged on 

 elongate, one-sided racemes, the bracts and bracteoies minute, subtending the pedicels; calyx nearly 5-parted, the lobes short, 

 narrow, nearly equal; corolla broadly campanulate, short-tubular, 5-lobed, the lobes flat, imbricate in bud, the upper 2 lobes 

 slighdy narrower, innermost in bud, the lower median lobe outermost; ferule stamens 2, the anthers 2-locular, broadly divergent, 



versatile; sdgma capitate; ovules 2 in each locule; capsules oblong; seeds 4 or fewer, orbicular, smooth, lustrous. Two species, 



India to Japan and se. Asia. 



1. Codonacanthus pauciflorus (Nees) Nees. Asy stasia 



paiici flora Nees; C. acuminatits Nees Arimori-so. Small 



perennial herb; stems erect, 30-60 cm. long, slightly branched, 

 often decumbent at base, with a line of short hairs; leaves ob- 

 long, 4-8 cm. long, 1-3 cm. wide, acute at both ends, entire or 

 slightly undulate, deep green above, glabrous except loosely 

 puberulent on nerves beneath while young, short-petiolate; 

 racemes terminal, simple or slightly branched at base, pedun- 

 cled, 8-15 cm. long, loosely about 10-flowered, puberulent, the 



bracts and bracteoies linear-lanceolate, 1-2 mm. long, the pedi- 

 cels suberect, short, slender, 2 or 3 times as long as the bract; 

 cal>'x nearly as long as the pedicels, the segments broadly lin- 

 ear, erect; corolla white, 8-10 mm. long and as wide, the lobes 

 ovate, rounded at apex, longer than the tube; capsules oblance- 



olate, narrowed to a stipelike base, 12-15 mm. long. Oct. 



Woods in lowlands; Kyushu (Yakushima and Tanegashima). 

 Ryukyus, Formosa, China, and India. 



3. HYGROPHILA R. Br. Ogi no-tsume Zoku 



Erect or decumbent herbs sometimes with axillary spines; leaves entire; flowers fasciculate in axils, nearly sessile, rarely sol- 

 itary, the bracteoies linear; calyx-segments 5, narrow, slighdy unequal, connate at base; corolla-tube slightly ampliate, the 

 limb bilabiate, the lobes contorted in bud, the upper lip erect, 2-toodied or shallowly 2-lobed, concave, the lower lip nearly 



