Justicia Nasuta. Dichotomous Justicia.
Class and Order.
Diandria Monogynia.
Generic Character.
Cor. ringens. Caps. 2-locularis: seminum retinaculis 2-valvis: valvis longitudinalibus unciculatis. Stamina anthera solitaria.
Specific Character and Synonyms.
JUSTICIA nasuta foliis lanceolato-ovatis integerrimis pedunculis dichotomis. Linn. Sp. Pl. Ed. 3. p. 23. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 63.
PULCOLLI Rheed. Mal. 9. p. 135. t. 69.
No. 325
This species of Justicia, long since figured in the Hortus Malabaricus, and described in the Species Plantarum of Linnæus, has been introduced to the Royal Garden at Kew, since the publication of the Hortus Kewensis, by Mr. Aiton: it is a stove plant, producing, almost the year through, abundance of flowers, distinguished not less for their singularity than their snowy whiteness; the following description, taken from the living plant, is fuller than that of Linnæus in the Sp. Pl.
Descr. Stalk shrubby, somewhat angular, three feet or more in height, green, very much branched, slightly pubescent; Leaves opposite, standing on short footstalks, ovato-lanceolate, running out to a short blunt point, entire, veiny, a little downy; Peduncles from the alæ of the leaves, alternate, dichotomous, two small bracteæ are placed at each bifurcation; Flowers pure white, inodorous; Calyx composed of five lanceolate, entire leaves, continuing; these, as well as the whole of the plant, are beset with minute transparent globules, visible with a magnifier. Corolla deciduous, tube linear, grooved, pale green, slightly villous, bending a little upward; upper lip very narrow, bent back, bifid at the extremity, the edges toward the base rolled back, so as to make it appear in that part almost tubular; lower lip depending, trifid, segments equal, obtuse at the base, round the mouth of the tube marked with fine purple dots; Filaments two, short, projecting from the mouth of the tube, finally bending back; Antheræ at first yellow, afterwards livid; Germen oblong, smooth; Style capillary, slightly hairy; Stigma bifid.
The plant is increased by cuttings; in the Hort. Malab. the bruised leaves are described as in use for the cure of cutaneous eruptions.