Asy stasia.] 
XCIII. ACANTHACEiE. 
1147 
1. A. australasica (Australian), Bail. Q. Ay. Jl. i. 230. A rather 
straggling plant about 18in. high, slightly branched, stems somewhat erect. 
Leaves membranous, 4 or 5in. long, 2Jin. broad, with a long abruptly acuminate 
point, rounded and slightly decurrent on the petiole which is slender and often 
nearly 2|in. long. Flowers lateral, distant, pale-bluish, in terminal racemes of 
2 or 3in., pedicels about 3 lines ; calyx-tube short, lobes very narrow, about 
3 lines long. Corolla-tube Ain., expanding upwards, lobes rather short and 
rounded. Stamens 4, in pairs, not exerted, style about the length of the 
stamens. Capsule seedless in the lower half, the apex rostrate, seeds 4 in the 
centre of capsule, prominently tuberculose on each face, the margins sinuate, 2 
lines diameter. 
Hab.: Thursday Island, Torres Strait. Under trees in the gullies between the hills. 
This Australian species somewhat resembles A. coromandeliana, Nees. 
8. ERANTHEMUM, Linn, 
(From eran, to love, and anthemon, a flower ; referring to the beauty of 
the flowers.) 
Calyx deeply divided into 5 lobes or segments. Corolla-tube long and slender ; 
limb spreading, 5-lobed, the lobes nearly equal, imbricate but not contorted in 
the bud. Stamens 2, inserted high up in the tube ; anthers partially exserted, 
with 2 parallel and equal cells ; staminodia 2, usually very small. Ovules 
usually 2 in each cell. Capsule oblong-clavate or linear, much contracted and 
seedless at the base. Seeds flat ; retinacula curved. — Herbs undershrubs or 
shrubs. Flowers solitary or in littie cymes of 3 to 5, sessile or very shortly 
pedunculate in the upper axils or more frequently forming terminal interrupted 
spikes with the floral leaves reduced to small bracts. Bracteoles very small or 
none. 
A considerable genus, dispersed over the tropical and subtropical regions of the New as well 
as the Old World. The two Australian species appear to be both endemic. 
Herb with a creeping rhizome and erect nearly simple stems. Flowers in 
spikes 1. E. var labile. 
Slender branching shrub. Flowers axillary 2. E. tenellum. 
1. E. variabile (habit variable), Pt. Br. Prod. 477 ; Benth. FI. Austr. iv. 
555. A perennial with a creeping rhizome and ascending or erect simple or 
slightly branched stems varying from a few inches to above 1ft. high, the whole 
plant glabrous, pubescent, or hirsute. Leaves petiolate, ovate-oblong lanceolate 
or linear, 1 to 3in. long. Flowers white, solitary or rarely in little cymes of 3 or 
5, in the axils of bracts always very small and sometimes almost inconspicuous, 
forming racemes or spikes, sometimes short and dense in the upper axils, but 
mostly slender interrupted and terminal ; pedicels very short. Calyx-segments 
linear-setaceous, varying from under 2 to above 4 lines in length. Corolla 
glabrous or pubescent, the slender straight tube 5 to 8 lines long ; lobes oblong, 
from under half the length of the tube to nearly its length. Capsule about Ain. 
long, the lower half contracted and seedless. — Nees in DC. Prod. xi. 456. 
flab.: Brisbane River, Moreton Bay, A. Cunningham, F. v. Mueller and others ; Rochampton 
and Rockingham Bay, Dallachy ; Nerkool Creek, Broadsound and Amity Creek, Bowman; 
Wide Bay, Bidwill ; Burdekin River, F. v. Mueller; Cape York, M'Gillivray. Throughout the 
colony, very common and variable. 
Var. molle. Leaves rather large, ovate, thin, softly pubescent. Flowers distant in slender 
leafless racemes. — Cape York, Daniel; Rockhampton, Dallachy. 
Var. lineare. Leaves narrow linear.— Gilbert River, F. v. Mueller ; Moreton Bay, C. Stuart. 
The plant figured in Paxt. Mag. xiii. 75 as E. variabile is a very different species, not 
Australian. 
