Leptactinia
(from leptos, slender, and aktin, a ray; in allusion to the circle of narrow lobes in the limb of the corolla). Sometimes spelt Leptactina. ORD. Rubiaceae. A genus comprising four species of stove shrubs, natives of tropical Africa. Flowers conspicuous, fascicled at the tips of the branchlets, sessile or shortly pedicellate; calyx five-parted; corolla tube elongated, silky, the limb of five spreading, narrow-oblong or lanceolate lobes; stamens five; fascicles sessile or pedunculate. Leaves opposite, rather large, shortly petiolate, elliptic, obovate-oblong, or lanceolate, membranous; stipules ample, connate at base. Branchlets terete. L. tetraloba is the only species in cultivation. It thrives in well-drained, fibrous loam, and may be increased by cuttings.
L. tetraloba (four-lobed). fl. solitary, sessile, terminal; calyx 1/2in. long; corolla white, minutely papillose outside, the tube 1 3/4in. long, the lobes 3/4in. long, with alternating coronal appendages one line long. l. 2 1/2in. to 7in. long, 3/4in. to 1 3/4in. broad, oblanceolate, cuneately narrowed to the rather acute base; petioles two to nine lines long. Usagara Mountains, 1885. A neat little, bushy shrub.