纤穗爵床属 xian sui jue chuang shu

Authors: Jia-qi Hu & Thomas F. Daniel

Herbs, perennial with cystoliths. Leaves petiolate. Inflorescences a panicle of spikes, usually reduced to a single terminal spike; bracts mostly shorter than calyx; bracteoles linear, minute. Calyx deeply 5-lobed, lobes similar (or posterior lobe shorter). Corolla tube cylindric, short; limb 2-lipped; lower lip 3-lobed; upper lip emarginate and galeate, lacking a stylar furrow; lobes ascending cochlear in bud. Stamens 2; anthers 2-thecous; thecae equally to subequally inserted, parallel, muticous at base; staminodes 0. Pollen 3-5-aperturate. Ovary with 2 ovules per locule. Capsule clavate with a solid sterile stalk at base, 4-seeded; retinacula present, not rising from base. Seeds lenticular.

One species: tropical Asia.

The genus is similar to Justicia but differs from it by the combination of its muticous anthers, galeate upper lip of the corolla, and lack of a stylar furrow (rugula) on the upper lip. B. Hansen (Nordic J. Bot. 5: 469-473. 1985) discussed typification, taxonomy, and morphological/geographic variation of this genus.

Lower Taxon

• Leptostachya wallichii Nees