SERTULUM BONTOCENSE. 
103 
ACANTHACEAE. 
LEPIDAGATHIS Willd. 
Lepidagathis subglabra sp. nov. 
Suffruticosa, erecta, ramosa, circiter 1 m alta, subglabra, brac- 
teis parce ciliatis; foliis majoribus lanceolatis, late ianceolatis, 
vel oblongis, usque ad 4 cm longis, subtus ad costa nervisque 
parce puberulis, foliis minoribus oppositis ; spicis axillaribus ter- 
minalibusque, solitariis, 1 ad 2.5 cm longis; bracteis oblongo- 
lanceolatis, acuminatis, margine obscure ciliatis; floribus 4- 
meris ; corolla 8 mm longa. 
A sulfrutescent, much-branched plant about 1 m high, the 
branches slender, terete, olivaceous, glabrous, the ultimate 
branchlets slightly 4-angled. Leaves opposite, of each pair one 
always much larger than the other, the larger leaves lanceolate, 
broadly lanceolate, or oblong, chartaceous, 2 to 4 cm long, 0.8 
to 1.7 cm wide, entire, the base acute, the apex acuminate, 
glabrous, shining and rather dark-colored above when dry, 
beneath slightly paler and puberulent on the midrib and nerves ; 
nerves 3 or 4 on each side of the midrib; petioles about 5 mm 
long; the smaller leaves of each pair similar to the larger ones 
but subsessile and mostly less than 5 mm long. Spikes terminal 
and in the upper axils, solitary, 1 to 2.5 cm long, 5 to 8 mm in 
diameter, rather dense, sessile or subsessile, the bracts oblong- 
lanceolate, acuminate, about 6 mm long, 1.7 to 2 mm wide, keeled, 
greenish when dry, the margins obscurely ciliate, otherwise 
glabrous. Calyx-lobes subequal in length, 6 to 7 mm long, all 
acuminate, slightly ciliate on the margins with short hairs, one 
oblong, about 2 mm wide, 3-nerved, two linear, less than 1 mm 
wide, 1-nerved, and the fourth deeply cleft, the lobes about 1 mm 
wide. Corolla white, glabrous, 8 mm long, the tube constricted 
below the anthers, the upper lobe subentire or minutely retuse, 
about 3 mm long, 2 mm wide, the lower lobe 3-cleft, the resulting 
lobes as long as the upper lobe but narrower. Anthers about 1 
mm long, one cell slightly higher than the other, the cells 
parallel, contiguous. Ovary ovoid, glabrous, 1.5 mm long; style 
2.5 mm long. 
Luzon, Bontoc Subprovince, Malamey, Vanoverhergh 507, May 10, 1910, 
in forests, altitude about 1,600 m. 
A species apparently well characterized among the Philippine forms by 
its subglabrous inflorescence, the bracts and calyx-segments being only 
slightly ciliate on the margins with rather short hairs. It resembles 
somewhat Lepidagathis psilantha Nees., but differs from that species in its 
larger, solitary, not clustered spikes. It differs from L. dispar C. B. Clarke 
in the same characters, although resembling that species in its unequal 
leaves. 
