3. Stenandrium dulce (Cav.) Nees FIGURE 42 Ruellia dulcis Cav. Icon. Pl. 6: 62. pl. 585, fig. 2. 1801. Type collected near Talcahuano, Chile, by Cavanilies. Dulcis, sweet, alludes, no doubt, to the esthetic appeal of the plant. This specific name was evidently suggested to Cavanilles by its vernacular name "canchetahua dulce." Stenandrium dulce Nees, DC. Prodr. 11: 282. 1847. Based on Ruellia dulcis Cav. Gerardia' dulcis Blake, Contr. Gray Herb. 52: 101, 1917. Based on Ruellia dulcis Cav. Rootstocks 1 to several cm. long, 3 to 5 mm. in diameter; roots thick- fibrous; stem very short or lacking; leaf blades ovate to oblong-ovate or oblong-elliptic, up to 5 cm. long and 2.5 cm. wide, obtuse at apex, narrowed at base and decurrent on the petiole, rather firm, entire or slightly crenate, minutely punctate, more or less hirsute, the hairs spreading, up to 1 mm. long, confined mostly to costa and lateral veins (4 or 5 pairs); petioles up to 4 cm. long, both pilose and puberulous, or sometimes glabrous and sparingly ciliate, or, rarely, subtomentose; flowers borne in sessile, subsessile or peduncled spikes, usually 2 to 3 cm. long or occasionally up to 6 cm. long, the peduncles, if present, both hirsute and puberulous; bracts oblong-lanceolate, 8 to 12 mm. long, 1.5 to 3.5 mm. wide, acute to acuminate, imbricate, inconspicu- ously 3-nerved, more or less punctate, ciliate, pilose, the hairs up to 2 mm. long, or sometimes both pilose and puberulous; bractlets nar- rowly lanceolate, about 5 mm. long and 0.5 mm. wide, 3-nerved, ciliate; calyx segments narrowly lanceolate, 6 to 7 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, striate-nerved, minutely ciliolate, the margins subhyaline; corolla purple, glabrous, up to 2 cm. long, the tube slender, about 1 mm. broad, slightly enlarged at base, the limb about 1.5 cm. broad, the lobes sub- equal, obovate, obtuse; capsules oblong, 2.5 mm. in diameter, glabrous or puberulous at tip; seeds flattened, ovate, 3 mm. long and 2.5 mm. broad, appressed-pilose. A variable species inhabiting the grassy, upper slopes of the Andes. Colombia, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina. CUNDINAMARCA: Páramo de Choachi, vicinity of Bogotá, Gabriel 6 (US). La Picotá, Pérez-Arbeláez 3031 (US). Southwest of Las Cruces, Pennell 2191 (NY, US). Sabana de Bogotá, Dawe 201 (US). San Cristóbal, Sabana de Bogotá, Pring 36 (Mo). Sabana de Bogotá, near Madrid, Conde Hugo de Tarragón, Araque & Barkley 18Cu.100 (US). Hacienda de Tequendama, Triana s. n. (Col).