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Family: Acanthaceae
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Suffrutescent herbs; stems branching, erect or ascending, sub- hexagonal, grooved, the tips pubescent, the hairs spreading or retrorsely recurved, barely 0.5 mm. long, the lower portions of the stem glabrate; leaf blades (only those subtending the verticillasters present) ovate, up to 3 cm. long and 1.6 cm. wide near base, subacute, rounded or obtuse at base, entire, rather firm, hirtellous on both sides, the hairs straight or nearly so, spreading or ascending, slightly less than 0.5 mm. long, confined chiefly to costa and lateral veins (4 or 5 pairs), the venation obscure above but fairly prominent beneath; petioles up to 4 mm. long, pubescent; flowers borne in axillary verticillasters, the internodes about 2 cm. long, the basal bracts sub- tending the cymes narrowly lanceolate, 2 mm. long, 0.75 mm. wide at base, acuminate, keeled, sparingly pubescent, the larger of the outer bracts subtending the cymule oblanceolate, 14 mm. long, 2.25 mm. wide at 5 mm. below tip, acute or acuminate, gradually narrowed from above middle to base, firm, green, ciliolate and sparingly hirtellous, the hairs stiff, more or less curved, about 150 long, the costa and lateral veins obscure, the inner bract subtending the cymule lanceolate, about 10 mm. long and 1.5 mm. wide toward base, acuminate, firm, the upper half green, the lower half light yellowish green, the costa barely prominent, the pubescence that of the outer bract, the inner- most bractlets narrowly lanceolate, about 6 mm. long, 1 mm. wide near base, whitish at least toward base, minutely hirtellous, 1-nerved; calyx segments triangular, 3.5 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide at base, acumin- ate, white and subhyaline, 3-nerved, minutely ciliolate, hirtellous toward tip; corollas red, sparingly to rather densely pubescent, about 3 cm. long, 2 mm. broad at base, narrowed to 1 mm. at 5 mm. above base, thence gradually expanded, the throat 5 mm. broad, the lips ovate, the upper lip 6 mm. long and 4 mm. wide at base, rounded or shallowly emarginate at tip, the lower lip 8 mm. long and 5 mm. wide, 3-lobed at tip, the lobes rounded, about 0.5 mm. long and broad; stamens barely reaching tip of the upper lip, the filaments flat, spar- ingly pilose, the hairs about 0.25 mm. long; capsules ovate, strongly flattened, about 5 mm. long and 4 mm. broad and 1 mm. thick, pubescent, the hairs up to 165 μ long, spreading or retrorsely curved, the capsule dehiscing and rupturing either from base or tip, the retina- cula cucullate, about 0.5 mm. long; seeds suborbicular, strongly flattened, about 3.5 mm. long, 2.5 mm. wide and about 0.75 mm. thick, more or less minutely roughened. Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 1799084, collected in dry thickets on the left slope of the valley of the Río Chicamocha, between Soatá and Tipacoque, Department of Boyacá, Colombia, 1,700 to 2,000 meters altitude, July 18, 1940, by J. Cuatrecasas and H. García-Barriga (No. 9820). The main stem leaves, deciduous and lacking on the type specimen, may prove to be somewhat larger than those subtending the verti- cillasters. The stem is woody at base and the plant probably affects a sprawling habit. The exact height of the plant cannot be approx- imated from the type material, probably a basal portion. The branches are about 20 cm. long, but the main stem may reach 1 meter or more. |