Hedyot/s.] RtlbidCeCB. 3 1 1 



A small shrub, 3-6 ft. high, with very numerous ascending 

 branches, stems stout, very bluntly 4-angled, glabrous and 

 shining, often purplish, branches supra-axillary, young parts 

 glabrous; 1. varying from I to over 4 in., but usually 2-3 in., 

 oval or lanceolate, acute at both ends, glabrous, rather thick, 

 petiole under \ in., stip. short, broad, obtuse, rather thick, 

 keeled down the centre, deciduous ; fl. pedicellate, rather 

 large (for genus), cymes very numerous, small, stalked, supra- 

 axillary and terminal, forming large compound inflor. usually 

 exceeding leaves ; cal. glabrous, segm. short, triangular, acute ; 

 cor.-tube broad, lobes ovate, acute, as long as tube, recurved, 

 woolly inside; disk tumid; fruit \ in., ovoid-globose, rounded 

 and blunt at the top, which projects beyond the erect 

 persistent cal.-segm., splitting from above into 2 ventrally 

 dehiscent carp. 



Upper montane zone; common, often growing gregariously. Fl. 

 March, September, and October; white, anth. violet. 



Endemic. 



This beautiful profusely flowering shrub is not variable, but the leaves 

 of some specimens from Adam's Peak are very small with strongly 

 revolute margins. It is one of the great ornaments of the higher hill- 

 forests, and is well worthy of cultivation in gardens. 



Sir J. Hooker has pointed out that Wight, Ic. t. 1026, cannot repre- 

 sent this species. Neither is it Rheede, Hort. Malab. iv. t. 57, quoted by 

 W. and A. The flowers are markedly dimorphic. 



16. K. verticillaris, W. and A. Prodr. 409 (1834). 



H. plantaginifolia. Am. Pug. 22. Thw. Enum. 142. C. P. 107. 



Fl. B. Ind. iii. 56. Wight, Ic. t. 1029. 



A large stemless perennial herb, with a long vertical 

 tap-root and short erect rootstock giving off from the base 

 long stout suckers; radical 1. very numerous, very close, erect, 

 forming a large rosette, 8-16 in., sessile, much sheathing at 

 base, linear-lanceolate, ensiform, acuminate, acute, stiff, quite 

 glabrous, bright light green, paler beneath, with 3, 5, or 7 

 very strong, thick, longitudinal ribs from base to apex, pro- 

 minent and almost winged beneath, channelled above, stip. 

 large, adnate to sides of l.-bases, 3 in. long, narrow, linear, 

 acuminate, somewhat laciniate at top, ciliate, with short 

 fleshy rootlike papillae especially abundant at the base ; scapes 

 numerous, axillary, erect, rather shorter than 1., much com- 

 pressed, glabrous, fl. sessile, in dense globular stalked heads, 

 arranged trichotomously or in whorls in terminal cymose 

 panicles, bracts at base of branches large, leafiike, smaller 

 upwards ; cal. glabrous, segm. narrowly lanceolate, acute, 

 cor. -tube hairy within, shorter than cal., lobes acute, recurved; 

 fruit turbinate, crowned with cal. and prominent convex disk, 



