Bean, Revision of Anisomeles 
323 
specimens, including 370 specimens held at 
BRI. Specimen loans were obtained from 
A, BKF, BM, CANB, DNA, E, G, GH, K, 
L, MEL, NT, NY, P, PERTH, PR and SING. 
Specimen images from E, K, MH, P and W 
have either been received or viewed on the 
internet. In most cases, the delicate corolla 
has been examined after reconstitution 
in boiling water, although spirit material 
and photographic images were available 
for several species, especially those from 
Queensland. Close-up photographic images 
of flowers have assisted in assessing corolla 
characters. The author has made limited field 
studies in Queensland and Northern Territory. 
Data on 72 morphological characters for 
the 26 species were entered into a matrix 
using the Delta editor (Dallwitz et al. 1999 
onwards). INTKEY software (Dallwitz et al. 
1995 onwards) facilitated the development 
of an interactive key, and the retrieval of 
diagnostic characters for each taxon. Natural 
language descriptions were also derived 
from the data stored in Delta format. Where 
sequential measurements are given as e.g. 
5-7.5 or 8.3-10 this means that the 5 or 10 is 
equivalent to 5.0 or 10.0 respectively. 
The distribution maps were compiled 
using DIVA-GIS Version 7.5.0, using localities 
or geocodes given on the labels of specimens 
and specimen images from the herbaria listed 
above. 
Commonly used abbreviations in the 
specimen citations are HS (Homestead), NP 
(National Park), Mt (Mount or Mountain; 
some place or locality names are correctly 
Mountain in terms of official names 
[Geoscience Australia 2015]) and SF (State 
Forest). Species treatments are arranged 
alphabetically. 
Conservation assessments are made 
using the IUCN (2012) criteria but are only 
recommendations as they have not been 
enacted into Legislation. 
Phylogenetic relationships 
Cantino (1992) hypothesised a close 
relationship between Anisomeles and 
Pogostemon Desf. based on the shared 
presence of minute leaf epidermal glands 
with a unicellular cap, ‘bearded’ staminal 
filaments and a lustrous pericarp. This close 
relationship was further supported by the 
pollen study of Abu-Asab & Cantino (1994), 
with both genera shown to have very similar 
pollen grains, with regular polygonal lumina 
and large perforations. 
Phylogenetic reconstruction using 
molecular data has determined that 
Anisomeles belongs in the subfamily 
Lamioideae, tribe Pogostemoneae Briq. 
(Scheen et al. 2010; Bendiksby et al. 2011), 
and is sister to Pogostemon. Other genera in 
the ‘Pogostemoneae a’ clade are Colebrookea 
Sm., Craniotome Reichb. and Microtoena 
Prain; these three genera are endemic to 
south-east Asia. Pogostemon has a similar 
distribution to Anisomeles, but with its species 
diversity centred in India. 
Uses and chemical properties 
Indian people have used both Anisomeles 
malabarica (Malabar catmint) and A. indica 
(Indian catmint) as medicinal herbs for 
centuries. A. malabarica has been traditionally 
used to treat amentia, anoxeria, fevers, 
halitosis, intestinal worms, swellings and 
rheumatism (Chopra et al. 1956; Warrier et al. 
1994). In recent years, chemical investigations 
have sought to discover the reasons for 
the perceived efficacy of Anisomeles spp. 
Jeyachandran et al. (2007) claimed that an 
extract from A. malabarica has anti-cancer 
properties based on a study of liver disease 
in mice. Kavitha et al. (2012) reported that 
ethanol ic extracts and diethyl ether extracts 
of A. malabarica had a statistically significant 
inhibitory effect against a range of bacteria, 
including Staphylococcus aureus and 
Escherischia coli. Similarly, Mohanraj et al. 
(2012) found an inhibitory effect against four 
pathogenic bacteria, using a methanol extract 
from A. malabarica. 
Baranwal etal. (2012) stated that A. indica 
is a source of medically active compounds 
having various positive pharmacological 
effects. They made reference to more than 
a dozen scientific papers that document the 
bioactivity of A. indica , as an analgesic, a 
