606 



ON AFRIDIA, A NEW GENUS OF LABIATJE FROM THE 

 NORTH-WEST FRONTIER OF INDIA. 



By J. F. Duthie, F.L.S. 



{Bead before the Bombay Natural History Society on June litli, 1898.) 



Afridia, nov. gen. Calyx tubular, fifteen-nerved, slightly curved ; 

 mouth oblique, entire. Corolla-tube slender towards the base, 

 exserted, without a ring of hairs within ; limb two-lipped ; posterior or 

 upper lip erect, concave, bifid ; lower spreading, 3-fid. ; middle 

 lobe larger than the laternal ones, concave, bifid. Stamens four, nearly 

 equal, ascending beneath the posterior lip, exserted or included, the 

 posterior pair slightly overtopping the front pair ; anthers two-celled, 

 lobes diverging, and at length divaricate. Disk deeply divided into 

 four equal lobes. Style included or exserted, bifid ; lobes subulate, 

 nearly equal. Nutlets obovoid, minutely tuberculate ; areole at the 

 base V _sna P e( ^' Suffruticose with many branching stems. Flowers 

 in densely packed verticillasters forming compact terminal spikes, or 

 with the lower clusters more or less interrupted. Corolla pale yellow 

 tinged with lilac. 



Afridia nepetceformis, nov. sp. Whole plant more or less hoary- 

 pubescent. Stems 1 to 2 feet high. Leaves shortly petioled, h to 2 

 inches long by ^ to 1 inch broad, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, obtuse, 

 cordate, margin crenate, rugose on upper surface, veins beneath promi- 

 nent. Lower bracts leaflike ; bracteoles shorter than the calyx, ovate, 

 acute or acuminate, three-nerved, membranous. Calyx reddish-purple, 

 clothed with spreading hairs. Corolla hairy outside. Filaments with 

 spreading hairs towards their bases. 



Fine specimens of both forms of this interesting plant were recently 

 obtained during the Tirah expedition by Inayat Khan, the head plant- 

 collector of the Botanical Department of Northern India, at elevations 

 between 4,500 and 8,500 feet above the sea. This plant was first dis- 

 covered by Dr. Griffith in Afghanistan at about the time of the first 

 Afghan War. I have not seen Griffith's specimens, but his No. 4060 is 

 quoted by Dr. Aitchison as identical with his Kurram valley specimens 

 collected in 1880. In his report on the " Flora of the Kurram 

 Volley," Aitchison refers to it under his No. 648 as " Nepeta sp." 



