Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 667 



19. AsYSTASiA, Blume. 



Herbs or undershrubs. Leaves opposite, equal or nearly so. 

 Bacemes subterminal, unilateral, lax at base, sometimes compound ; 

 pedicels short (0 to -2 in. long), alternate or opposite, in bud and 

 flower suberect ; bract and 2 prophylla at base of the pedicel small 

 bristles (hardly -125 in. long). Calyx -2 to -25 in. long, divided very 

 nearly to the base into 5 linear or narrow-oblong segments. Corolla 

 short or long ; tube inflated upwards or linear ; lobes 5, imbricated in 

 the bud. Stamens 4, didynamous, all perfect ; filaments united in 

 pairs at the base, glabrous or slightly hairy near the base ; anther-cells 

 2, oblong, parallel, at equal height, at base muticous or minutely 

 auricled ; pollen ellipsoid, longitudinally ribbed in the type species. 

 Ovary hairy ; style long, glabrous except near the base ; stigmatic 

 lobes 2 equal, hemiglobose ; ovules in each cell 2. Capsule oblong, 

 4-seeded in the upper part ; base contracted, sterile. Seeds compressed, 

 round, often tubercled or rough, without hairs. Species 30, in South- 

 east Asia, and in Tropical and South Africa. 



Flowers alternate ; inflated part of corolla-tube longer than 



the base .. .. .. .. .. 1. A.coromandeliana. 



Flowers mostly opposite ; corolla-tube linear, widened near 



the top ,. .. .. ., . . 2. A. intrusa. 



1. AsTSTAsiA CGROMANDELiANA, Nees in Wall. PI. x\s. Ear. III. 

 89 (1832). A more or less dull-pubescent herb, 1 to 4 ft. high. 

 Leaves from 1 to 3-5 in. long, ovate, triangular-acute at tip, entire, the 

 margin undulate or sometimes obscurely toothed ; petiole -25 to 1-75 

 in. long. Bacemes 1 to 4 in. long, rarely divided (paniculate), on a 

 peduncle 1 to 4 in. long. Sepals -2 in. long, linear, pubescent. Corolla 

 varying from lurid pale-purple to nearly white, 1 to 1'25 in. long (see 

 however, remark on form ^ below) ; the contracted cylindric base of 

 the tube much shorter than its inflated upper half. Pollen 75 by 45 /x, 

 with 2 stopples, and longitudinal ribs beside each stopple. Capsule 

 1 in. long ; solid cylindric base "35 in. ; seeds -2 in. in diam., com- 

 pressed, ovoid, wrinkled or subtubercular. Nees in DC. Prodr. XL 

 165 {loith syn. and var.) ; Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. II. 792 ; Hook. f. Fl. 

 Br. Ind. IV. 493 {ivith syn.) ; Dyer Fl. Trop. Afr. V. 131, Fl. Cap. V. 

 42. A. gangetica, Lindau in Engl. & Prantl Pflanzenfam. IV. 3 b, 326, 

 fig. 131 ; Prain Beng. Plants 813. 



Penang : Deschamps ; Waterfall, King ; John Scott. Singapoee : 

 Deschamps ; T. Anderson ; Hullett 67. — Disteib. Indian Peninsula ; 

 Tropical and South Africa ; elsewhere perhaps only a weed of 

 cultivation. 



