1148 
XCIII. ACANTHACEiE. 
[Eranthemum. 
2. E. tenellum (slender), Benth. FI. Austr. iv. 555. An erect slirub of 2 
to 3ft. with slender scabrous-pubescent or glabrous branches. Leaves petiolate, 
ovate or oblong, those of each pair very unequal in size, the larger one sometimes 
rather above lin. long, but usually half that size, and its opposite one much 
smaller. Flowers white, solitary in the axils, on short pedicels. Calyx- 
segments linear-setaceous, under 2 lines long. Corolla like the smaller form of 
E. variabile. 
Hab.: Ia various localities. 
Evidently nearly allied to E. tuberculatum, Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 5405, but without the peculiar 
warts of that species, the flowers smaller, and the leaves differently shaped. — Benth. 
9. HYPOESTES, R. Br. 
(From hypo under and estia house. — The bracts covering the calyx.) 
Calyx more or less deeply divided into 5 lobes or segments. Corolla with a 
slender tube deeply 2-lipped, the upper lip narrow, entire, or rarely notched, the 
lower 3-lobed. Stamens 2, often nearly as long as the corolla ; anthers linear, 
1 -celled. Ovules 2 in each cell of the ovary. Style bifid at the top. Capsule 
compressed and seedless at the base, oblong or clavate. Seeds flat ; retinacula 
subulate. — Herbs shrubs or small trees. Flowers solitary or 2 or 3 together, 
within a cylindrical or clavate involucre of 2 pairs of bracts often united to the 
middle, the inner pair alternating with the outer, the involucres in axillary 
clusters or spikes or in terminal panicles. 
The genus is dispersed over Africa and tropical Asia. The Australian varieties or species 
appear to be endemic, but require further comparison with some forms from the Eastern 
Archipelago of which we have very imperfect specimens. — Benth. 
1. H. floribunda (free flowerer), B. Br. Prod. 474 ; Benth. FI. Austr. iv. 553. 
An erect branching perennial, attaining 2 or 3ft. and usually glabrous except the 
minutely glandular-pubescent inflorescence. Leaves ovate-lanceolate or almost 
linear, acutely acuminate, contracted into a rather long petiole, usually thin and 
membranous and 2 to 4in. long, but occasionally much larger. Involucres 
usually numerous in dense axillary clusters or racemes or loose terminal panicles 
each involucre tubular, concrete, 2 to 4 lines long, 4-lobed to about the middle, 
the lobes acute, the 2 inner ones rather smaller. Flowers solitary in the 
involucre or rarely 2 or 3 together, but the accessory ones mostly rudimentary. 
Calyx very thin, divided to about the middle, much shorter than the involucre. 
Corolla slender, about fin. long or rather larger, the lips as long as the tube, the 
upper one linear and entire, the lower one much broader, very shortly 3-lobed. 
Stamens nearly as long as the lips. Capsule rather narrow, 5 to 6 lines long. — 
Endl. Iconogr. t. 105 ; H. laxiflora and H. floribunda (partly), Nees in DC. 
Prod. xi. 508, 509. 
The following forms of this very variable plant might be distributed according to the 
inflorescence into three principal varieties or perhaps species, two of -which are found in this 
colony : — (Benth.) 
1 Densiflora. Involucres mostly 2 to 3 lines long in short dense spikes or clusters chiefly axillary. 
— Moreton Bay, A. Cunningham, F. v. Mueller; Rockhampton, Thozet ; Edgecombe and 
Rockingham Bays, Dallachy ; Nerkol Creek, Bowman; Port Denison, Fitzalan. (All nearly 
glabrous). 
Var. canescens. Branches inflorescence and under side of the leaves hoary with a very 
minute pubescence. — Cape York, Daemel. 
Yar. pubescens. Rather densely clothed with a scabrous or a soft pubescence, — Wide Bay, 
Bidwill ; Burdekin River, Leichhardt ; N. coast of Arnhem’s Land, Kinley ; also other southern 
localities. 
2. Paniculata. Involucre usually 3 to 4 lines long, in elongated inteirupted spikes, usually 
numerous in the upper axils, forming rather large terminal panicles. — Shoalwater Bay, B. Brou n. 
