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Information Monocarpic. Leaf solitary, oblong, up to c. 20 × 10 cm., base cuneate to subcordate, margin finely dentate-serrate, both surfaces appressed-pubescent. Inflorescences several from base of midrib, many-flowered. Peduncles up to c. 25 cm. long; pedicels 5–20 mm. long, both pubescent. Bracts minute. Calyx divided to the base into 5 lanceolate segments c. 2.5 × 1 mm., pubescent. Corolla c. 11–13 mm. long, pure white or very rarely violet-blue, pubescent outside, glabrous inside except for minute unicellular hairs on roof and floor of tube and inside of lobes; tube 7–9 mm. long, 3–4 mm. diam., subcylindrical, directed downwards then forwards, somewhat ventricose below mouth, base slightly oblique and slightly saccate above; limb straight, lobes of both lips directed forwards, all lobes oblong, subequal, c. 2 mm. long. Stamens arising in lower third of corolla tube, filaments c. 3 mm. long, slightly thickened and glandular above; anther lobes c. 1 mm. long; staminodes minute. Ovary c. 4 mm. long, appressed-pubescent; style c. 4.5 mm. long, glabrous above, slightly dorsoventrally compressed; stigma elliptic, stomatomorphic, papillose. Capsule about 35 mm. long, 1.5 mm. broad, crowned with the persistent style base. Seeds 0.7–0.9 mm. long, reticulate.

Information Herbs, rarely subshrubs; caulescent, erect or creeping, or acaulescent, rosulate or unifoliate; annual, perennial or monocarpic. Leaves opposite and petiolate in the caulescent species (very rarely alternate and sessile, and then the flowering axis with a very large basal leaf); in the acaulescent species the leaf may show continued growth from a basal meristem, evidenced by wide-spreading lateral veins and frequent absence of intact apex; indumentum of simple glandular or eglandular hairs, rarely of branched hairs; sessile or subsessile glands usually present: the lower surface of the leaf sometimes white-dotted due to the presence of stomatal turrets. Inflorescences axillary or apparently from base of lamina or from leaf-stalk; cymose, branching, sometimes more or less one-sided, the flowers paired, rarely reduced to two flowers or only one. Calyx usually divided to the base into 5 segments, more rarely with a distinct tube and 5 teeth. Corolla gamopetalous, 5-lobed, most often distinctly bilabiate. Stamens arising at various levels on the corolla tube, the anterior 2 only fertile; lateral staminodes usually present, the posterior one often missing; filaments variable in length, often thickened in the middle; anthers with divaricate, rarely parallel, lobes, the lines of dehiscence confluent at the apex, usually cohering face to face. Disk annular or shortly cupular. Ovary usually unilocular, but sometimes apparently bilocular by fusion of the T-shaped intrusive placentae; ovules restricted to the recurved tips of the placentae; ovary narrowed, often very gradually, into the style; stigma variable. Capsule more or less cylindrical, varying from short and broad (5 mm.) to long and slender (180 mm.), twisting spirally before maturity, dehiscing by a loculicidal slit and slight untwisting of the spiral, when old sometimes splitting into 4 valves. Seeds numerous, small, with very little endosperm, reticulate or verruculose. Seedlings with the cotyledons becoming unequal after germination.

Information Acaulescent perennial herb. Rhizome creeping, stout, to 4(–6) mm thick, softly pubescent, with prominent leaf scars. Leaves tending to cluster towards rhizome apex, usually rosulate though occasionally solitary; blade narrowly oblong-elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, size variable, 7–36 cm long, 1.5–17.5 cm wide, base ± asymmetric, cuneate to acute, margin coarsely dentate, apex subacuminate or acute, often withered, densely pubescent particularly on the upper surface and nerves beneath; lateral nerves 19–35 pairs, parallel, spreading; petiole 0.5–2(–4) cm long. Inflorescences apparently axillary, solitary to several arising from the leaf axis, somewhat lax and spreading, 8–many-flowered; peduncles 4–29 cm long; pedicels 7–17(–28) mm long, glandular- and eglandular-pubescent; bracts linear, 2–4.5 mm long, pubescent. Calyx lobes lanceolate, 1.5–3.5 mm long, glandular- and eglandular-pubescent. Corolla pale- or less commonly medium-violet, rarely whitish, with violet stripes on the floor of the tube, 11.5–19 mm long, scattered glandular-pubescent outside; tube obliquely cylindric with a declinate floor, 7–11 mm long, 5–7.5 mm deep, mouth open; limb bilabiate; upper lip of two suberect, rounded lobes, 2.5–3 mm long, ± 2.5 mm wide; lower lip of three spreading, oblong-rounded lobes, 4–4.5 mm long, 2–3.5 mm wide. Stamens arising from near the base of the corolla tube; filaments U-curved, slender, 4–6 mm long, glabrous; anther thecae rounded, 0.7–0.8 mm wide; staminodes minute. Ovary 3–4.5 mm long, glandular-pubescent; style 3–4 mm long; stigma bilobed, 0.35–0.4 mm wide, papillose. Capsule 15–25 mm long, 1–1.5 mm diameter, glandular-pubescent. Seeds 0.5–0.7 mm long, verruculose, slightly ridged longitudinally. Fig. 4, p. 29.