LXXI. GESNERACEiE 
365 
LXXI. GESNERACE^E 
Herbs ; stems or flowering scapes erect. Leaves simple. 
Flowers irregular, 2 -sexual, blue or purple, rarely white. Calyx 
free, 5-lobed, persistent. Corolla hypogynous ; tube long or short ; 
limb 2 -lipped or spreading. Stamens 4 in unequal pairs or only 
2, the other pair being reduced to staminodes, attached to the 
corolla-tube, alternate with the lobes ; filaments curved, anthers 
cohering in pairs. Ovary free, 1 -celled ; style simple, usually 
rather long, stigma small, terminal ; ovules very numerous, 
attached to the walls of the ovary. Capsule narrowly oblong, 
splitting nearly to the base in 2 valves ; seeds numerous, minute. 
— A large Order widely dispersed through nearly all tropical and 
subtropical regions. — Named in honour of Conrad Gesner, a Swiss 
naturalist of the sixteenth century. 
Stamens 4 ; staminodes none. 
Leaves numerous, stalked, all radical. Flowers pale 
purple or white . . . . . . .1. Didissandra. 
Leaf solitary, sessile at the top of the short stem. 
Flowers dark blue . . . . . .3. Platystemma. 
Stamens 2 ; staminodes 2. Leaves opposite, unequal . 2. Chirita. 
1. DIDISSANDRA. From the Greek di or dis, twice, and 
aner, andros, a man ; referring to the two pairs of perfect stamens 
as compared with the single pair in the allied genus Didymocarpus. 
— India, China, Malaya. 
Didissandra lanuginosa, C. B. Clarke ; FI. Br. Ind. iv. 355. 
A stemless herb. Leaves all radical, stalked, spreading, ovate, 
1 Xf in., crenate ; upper surface wrinkled, nearly glabrous ; 
lower densely hairy. Scapes tufted, erect, 3-6 in., hairy near the 
base. Flowers few, J in. long, pale purple or white, in a terminal 
cyme. Calyx-lobes acute. Corolla 2-lipped ; tube cylindric ; 
upper lip erect, notched ; lower larger, spreading, 3-lobed. 
Stamens 4. Stigma flat, 2-lobed. Capsule £ in., erect, curved, 
acute. 
Valleys below Simla, on rocks, not common ; August, September. — Simla to 
Bhotan, 4000-6000 ft.— Khasia hills. 
2. CHIRITA. From Cherayta, the Hindustani name of 
Swertia Chirata ; the plants are supposed to possess similar 
properties. — E. Asia. 
Small, hairy, erect herbs. Leaves thin, opposite, unequal, often 
reduced to a single pair. Flowers purple, solitary or in small, 
axillary cymes. Calyx-lobes acute. Corolla funnel-shaped ; lobes 
5, rounded, spreading. Perfect stamens 2, staminodes 2 ; filaments 
