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Crossandra(Greek, fringed anthers). Acanthaceae. Warmhouse evergreen shrubs of minor importance.
Upright, with entire or somewhat toothed, often verticillate Lvs., glabrous, or the infl. hairy: fls. in dense sessile spikes, red or yellow, with prominent bracts; corolla cylindrical, more or less curved, somewhat enlarged at the throat, with a flat or spreading oblique limb; stamens 4, in pairs.—Perhaps 20-25 species from India, Trop. Air, and Madagascar. The one commonly in the trade has handsome 4-eided spikes of scarlet-orange fls.; perianth has 5 segms., the 2 upper ones being smaller; stamens 4, of 2 lengths: caps, oblong, acute, 4-seeded. It is cult. S. outdoors to a slight extent, and also rarely in northern greenhouses. Should be grown in rich loam, peat or leaf-mold, and sand. Prop, by cuttings in sand over bottom heat, preferably under a bell-jar.
C. flava, Hook. Unbranched shrub, 6-8 in. high: at. green, glabrous: Lvs. opposite, close together, large for the size of the plant, 6 in. long, obovate-lanceolate, dark green above, paler beneath, wavy, more obtuse than in the above; lower Lvs. stalked, upper ones sessile: spike 4-sided, spiny; fls. yellow; tube much exserted, jointed. Trop. W. Afr. B.M. 4710.—C. guineensis, Nees. Height 2-6 in.: st. light red, rusty pubescent: Lvs. 2-4 pairs, 3-5 in. long, elliptic, green above, with golden netted nerves, reddish beneath: spike solitary, terminal, slender, 3-5 in. high; fls. numerous, small, pale lilac, with 2 darker spots on the 2 smallest seems, and a white eye. Guinea. B.M. 6346.—A handsome foliage plant. N. Taylor.
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__NOTOC__{{Plantbox
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| name = ''Crossandra''
| name = ''Crossandra''