A flora of Manila - Rainforestation

ACANTHACEAE 435
in pairs, one often much reduced, the bracteoles as long as the calyx.
Calyx-limb 5-parted, the segments equal, linear-lanceolate. Corolla pink,
the tube slender, the limb deeply 2-lipped, the upper lip entire or emarginate,
the lower 3-lobed, recurved. Stamens 2; anthers 2-celled, the cells blunt,
superposed. Ovary 4-ovuled. Capsule clavate. (Greek, referring to the
2 bracts concealing calyx.)
Species about 60 in the tropics of both hemispheres, 2 or 3 in the Phil-
ippines.
1. D. leonotis Dalz.
An erect or spreading, branched, somewhat hairy herb about 0.5 m
high. Leaves ovate to elliptic-ovate, sharply acuminate, 3 to 8 cm long,
glabrous or with few hairs. Flowers in rather dense axillary whorls.
Bracts green, lanceolate, narrowed below, 10 to 12 mm long, clothed with
spreading white hairs, slenderly and sharply long-acuminate. Calyx about
5 mm long. Corolla pink, about 1 cm long.
Near San Pedro Macati, rare, fl. Jan., and probably in other months; of
very local occurrence in the Philippines. India.
2. ELYTRARIA Vahl
Low, simple or branched, erect herbs, the leaves all basal or somewhat
crowded near the ends of the stems or branches. Flowers small, white or
purplish, sessile, solitary in the axils of the bracts, arranged in cylindric,
slender spikes, the peduncles axillary, solitary, bearing from 1 to several
spikes at their apices, covered with appressed, small, green bracts. Calyx
4-parted, the lobes unequal, acuminate. Corolla-tube cylindric, slender, the
limb 2-lipped. Stamens 2, inserted near the throat, included, capsule
oblong-linear, contracted at the base. Seeds small, few. (Greek "covering,"
in allusion to the scale-like bracts.)
Species 3 or 4, or according to some authors '15, in tropical and subtemperate
America, some introduced in other tropical countries, a single
one in the Philippines.
1. E. TRIDENTATA Vahl.
An erect, simple or branched, glabrous or slightly pubescent herb, 15
to 40 cm high. Leaves oblanceolate, usually somewhat crowded toward
the ends of the stems or branches, 6 to 11 cm long, acute or acuminate,
slightly toothed. Spikes 2 to 6 cm long, solitary or several at the ends of
the elongated peduncles, the peduncles slender, stiff, axillary, covered with
appressed, lanceolate, acuminate, bracts. Bracts subtending the flowers
acuminate, imbricate, 3-toothed, about 4 mm long, their margins lanate.
Corolla pink, slender, about 2.5 mm long.
In dry open places, fl. Sept.-March; apparently of local occurence in
the Philippines, but thoroughly naturalized. A native of tropical America,
but reported from no other part of the Orient.
3. JUSTICIA Linnaeus
Herbs or shrubs with entire leaves and usually small flowers in rather
dense terminal or axillary spikes, the bracts large or small, bracteoles
linear or wanting. Calyx 4- or 5-parted, the lobes narrow. Corolla-tube
usually short, the limb spreading, 2-lipped, lower lip 3-lobed or nearly
entire. Stamens 2; filaments hairy near the base. Ovary 4-ovuled; style