Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 34 (1896).djvu/427

 DR. DONALDSON SIVUTH's ACANTHACEffi. 397 sepals are 9 to 10 mm. long by 6 broad, the inner 8 by 3 mm. The corolla-tube is 13 mm. long by 2-5 in diameter, the anterior free lobe is 12 by 5 mm. ; the other four are united below into a linear portion 10 by 5 mm., spreading above into four lobes, one of which is longer than the others, 16 by 8"5 mm., the other three being 14 by 7-5 mm. The filaments of the fertile stamens are 17 mm. long ; the anthers (4-5 mm. long) have their halves diverging below, connate only in the upper half above their insertion. The staminodes are a little over 1 mm. long. The ovary (3 mm. long) is girt at the base by a thin cup -like disc, 1 mm. high, with an undulate margin. The filiform style is 2-5 cm. long. A well-marked species of the § Prionitis, characterised by its blue flowers, broadly ovate coriaceous leaves, and pungent oblanceo- late bracts. Barleria (§ Prionitis) linearifolia, sp. nov. Frutex ramis incanis ; foliis glabris sessilibus linearibis marginatis, apice pun- gentibus ; floribus axillaribus decussantibus in spicam brevem densam horridam ordinatis ; bracteis foliaceis, velut folia spinam sub medio 4-partitam subtendentibus ; bracteolis spinosis ; floribus inter majores ; sepalis exterioribus lanceolatis acuminato-aristatis, interioribus subulatis ; corollaB pallid^e (?flav8e) tubo cylindrico, lobis obtusis vix apiculatis antico cuneato ceteris basi connatis, lateralibus orbiculari-obovatis, posticis obovatis cum basi cuneata ; staminodiis 3, pilosis, lateralibus antheras cassas gerentibus. Hab. Turfa, Aug. 22nd, 1894. Size unknown. Branch, 2*5 mm. in diameter, branching irregularly above from the abortion of one of each pair of opposite buds, and ending, like its branchlets, in dense flower-spikes, 5 cm. long or less. The leaves, except in the region of the flowers, have fallen. The axillary spines persist ; they consist, like those in the lower portion of the spike, of a stem 10 to 12 mm. long, spreading above into four decussating needles 10 to 15 mm. long. The lower foliaceous bracts are 28 by 4 mm., and the subulate spiny bracteoles 23 mm. ; as we ascend the spike the bracts and bracteoles become smaller, and the spine in the axil of the former much reduced ; in the case of an upper flower the bracteoles were 7 mm. long. The same reduction occurs in the sepals. The outer sepals are in the lower part of the spike 24 by 4 mm., the inner 14 to 15 by 1 mm. ; in an upper flower, 16 by 3 and 12 mm. (long) respectively. The corolla-tube is 2 cm. long, 1*5 mm. in diameter in the middle, 2'5 at the mouth. The odd lobe is 15 by 5 mm., the others are connate for 8 mm. of their length ; the two lateral have a free portion 15 by 12 mm., the two posterior 15 by 8 mm. The fila- ments of the two fertile stamens are 2 cm. long, tapering to a filiform apex from a broader ribbon-like base ; the anthers are 2-5 mm. long. The two larger staminodes are 2*5 mm. long, the median one is 1 mm. The cup-like disc round the base of the ovary is -5 mm. high. The long filiform style is 32 mm. Distinguished from other species of the section by its markedly linear leaves and bracts.