Rhinacanthus
(from rhis, rhinos, the nose, and Acanthus; alluding to the curious shape of the Acanthus-like corolla). ORD. Acanthaceae. A small genus (about four species) of stove, loosely branched, sometimes sub-scandent shrubs, natives of tropical and South Africa, Madagascar, the East Indies, and the Malayan Archipelago. Flowers few, at the axils of the bracts, sub-sessile, sometimes fascicled or cymose and paniculate; calyx deeply five-cut, with narrow segments; corolla with an elongated tube and a bilabiate limb, the dorsal lip bidentate, the anterior one trifid; stamens two, affixed to the throat of the corolla. Leaves entire. The best-known species is described below. For culture, see Justicia.
R. communis (common). Ringworm Root. fl. white; upper lip linear, straight; panicle axillary or terminal, bi-or trichotomously spreading. June. l. oblong or ovate-oblong. h. 2ft. East Indies, 1790. (B. M. 325, under name of Justicia nasuta.)