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Family: Acanthaceae
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Herbs up to 50 cm. high; stems subquadrangular, pilose in 2 lines, the hairs more or less spreading, about 0.75 mm. long, the cystoliths barely conspicuous under a lense; leaf blades ovate, 10 to 18 cm. long, 5.5 to 7 cm. wide, abruptly acuminate (the tip itself acute, straight or slightly curved), rounded at base and abruptly and broadly decurrent on the petiole, thin, the upper surface glabrous or bearing a few coarse hairs, the costa and lateral veins (9 or 10 pairs) conspicuous, the lower veins meeting the costa almost at right angles, the cystoliths linear, delicate, the lower surface sparingly hirtellous, the hairs about 0.25 mm. long, spreading, confined chiefly to costa and veins, these slightly more conspicuous than above; petioles 4 to 7 cm. Iong, glabrous or the margins and channel bearing a few minute hairs, the winged portion of the petiole near base of leaf blade 1 to 1.5 cm. wide, thence gradually narrowed to its base; leaves of the small branches produced in the axils of the stem leaves ovate, about 2 cm. long and 1.5 cm. wide; panicle terminal, sparingly branched, the flowers subsessile, the pe- duncle 10 cm. long, the first internode 6 cm. long, the others successively shorter toward tip, the leaves subtending the panicle ovate- cordate, about 7 cm. long and 3.5 cm. wide near the base, acuminate, truncate or subcordate at base, subsessile, the short petiole winged, about 5 mm. long, the bracts subtending the lower branches of the inflorescence suborbicular, about 2.5 cm. long and wide, acuminate, rounded at base, subsessile, the bracts subtending the lowermost fas- cicle of flowers broadly elliptic, about 8 mm. long and 13 mm. wide, apiculate and emarginate, the lowermost of the subsequent bracts tri- angular, acuminate, 2.5 mm. long and 1 mm. wide at base, ciliate, the others becoming smaller toward tip of inflorescence; the bractlets nar- rowly triangular, up to 1.5 mm. long, acute, the peduncle and rachis pilose, the hairs mostly spreading, about 0.5 mm. long, arranged more or less in two rows; calyx subsessile, 5 mm. long, the segments lanceo- late, 3 mm. long, 0.75 mm. wide at base, faintly and delicately 3- nerved, ciliolate; corolla dark red, 3 cm. long, the tube very slender, 1.75 mm. broad at base, narrowed at 4 mm. above base to 1 mm., the mouth about 3 mm. broad, the lobes oval, 5 to 6 mm. long, about 4 mm. wide, rounded at tip; stamens inserted near mouth of corolla tube, the filaments very short, the anthers curved, about 1,5 mm. long, the stam- inodes subulate, 0.5 mm. long; ovary 3 mm. long, glabrous; style slender, glabrous, exserted about 5 mm. beyond mouth of the corolla tube; mature capsule not seen. Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 1708795, collected in coffee groves at Manaure, Department of Magdalena, Colombia, 500 meters altitude, January 23, 1944, by Oscar Haught (No. 3974). Closely related to P. alatum (Nees) Radlk. of Mexico and Central America, P. haughtii differs chiefly in the shape of the leaf blades and the size of the calyx. The leaves of P. alatum are definitely cordate at base, the venation being subpalmate, the lowermost three pairs of veins arising nearly at a point, whereas in P. haughtii the leaf blades are somewhat rounded at base, and the venation is strictly pinnate. The calyx of P. alatum is much shorter, being only about 2 mm. long in comparison to the 5 mm. of P. haughtii, and the segments of the latter are glabrous or at most sparingly ciliolate instead of rather copiously ciliolate. Pseuderanthemum cuspidatum (Nees) Radlk, may likewise have a resemblance to P. haughtii, but is described as having roughened, gla- brous leaf blades and simple spikes. |