Petunga
(Peetunga is the Bengalese name of P. Roxburghii). SYNS. Higginsia (of Blume), Spicillaria. ORD. Rubiaceae. A genus consisting of four or five species of glabrous, stove shrubs, with terete, twiggy branchlets, natives of Eastern Bengal, the Malay Peninsula, and the islands of the Indian Archipelago. Flowers white, small, disposed in short, axillary, simple or somewhat compound spikes, sessile or shortly pedicellate, bibracteolate; calyx persistent, tube ovoid, limb four-toothed; corolla funnel-shaped, with a short tube, a very villous throat, and four spreading, oblong lobes. Leaves opposite, petiolate, oblong or lanceolate, narrowed to both ends. P. Roxburghii is an ornamental shrub, requiring culture similar to that recommended for Catesbaea (which see).
P. Roxburghii (Roxburgh's). fl. small; spikes about one-half or one-third shorter than the leaves; bracts and calyx glabrous. May. l. elliptic-oblong, glabrous, drooping, 3in. to 4in. long, and about 1in. broad; stipules large, caducous. h. 3ft. to 8ft. India, 1820.
