N. O. ACANTHACEiE. 957 



A small diffuse undershrub. Stems 6-18 in. long, prostrate, 

 or climbing, amongst bushes, much branched, internodes long, 

 the nodes more or less hairy and often tinged with purple. 

 Leaves f-3 in. long, ovate or elliptic, acute at both ends, entire, 

 glabrous or slightly hairy, petioles, i-f in. long. Flowers 

 subsessile, solitary or few together ; bracteoles similar to the 

 leaves but smaller. Calyx \ in. long, divided to below the 

 middle ; segments linear-subulate, acute, hairy. Corolla pale 

 greyish-purple, li in. long, caducous, pubescent outside ; tube 

 narrowly cylindric below, funnel-shaped above ; lobes subequah 

 obovate-oblong, rounded. Capsule f in. long, clavate, pointed, 

 pubescent. Seeds 16-20, subglabrous but with a dense fringe 

 of hygroscopic hairs on the margin. (DuthieV 



Uses : — The juice of the leaves, boiled with a little salt, is 

 supposed on the Malabar Coast to correct a depraved state of 

 the humors (Rheede). They are sometimes given with yundum 

 or liquid copal as a remedy for gonorrhoea (Ainslie.) 



915. B. suffrutieosa, Roxb. h.f.b.i., iv. 413 



Roxb. 476. 



Vern. : — Chanlia (Santal.). 



Habitat : — Dinajpur ; (Bengal; ; throughout Chota Nagpore. 

 Upper Gangetic Plain, and Moradabad. 



An erect pubescent undershrub, 1-2 ft. high. Roots stout, 

 often with fusiform swellings. Stems herbaceous, .annually 

 produced from a short creeping woody rhizome. Leaves petioled 

 lanceolate elliptic or oblanceolate, the lower ones usually smaller 

 and often suborbicular, obtuse or subacute, entire, villous with 

 white hairs on both surfaces especially on the nerves and veins 

 beneath, margins ciliate. Flowers solitary, terminal, subsessile ; 

 bracteoles resembling the leaves but smaller and narrower, fin. 

 long, stalked. Roxburgh states that the flowers open at sunset 

 and drop off on the following morning. Calyx-segments \ in. 

 long, linear, puberulous or nearly glabrous. Corolla white, 

 l|-2 in. long, tube slender, limb subregular. Capsule 1J in. 

 long, oblong, glabrous, often tinged with purple. Seeds few, 

 (Duthiel 



