Citation: Reichb., Handbk Nat. Pflanzensyst. 190 (1837).

Derivation: Latin rostellum, small beak; ul, diminutive suffix; referring to the small basal appendage on the lower anther cell.

Synonymy: Justicia sensu Benth., Fl. Aust. 4:549 (1868), partly; sensu J. Black, Fl.S. Aust. 518 (1929).

Common name: None

Description:
Ascending herbs or woody subshrubs; branches usually 6-angled or -furrowed; leaves sessile or petiolate, ovate, the opposite pairs connected by a transverse ridge across the node.

Flowers in dense terminal spikes of decussate overlapping bracts, each flower subtended by a bract and 2 bracteoles, bracts frequently with a hyaline margin; bracteoles similar in shape to the bract but narrower; calyx segments 4 or 5, usually when the former with remnants of a fifth lobe; corolla tubular at the base, internally with eglandular hairy ridges decurrent from filaments, widening into the throat, 2-lipped, the upper lip erect, entire or notched and usually with a style channel, the lower lip 3-lobed with the 2 lateral lobes narrower than the middle lobe; middle lower lobe outermost in bud, with a barred palate; stamens 2, exserted from the throat; filaments not connected, glabrous, flattened; anther cells 2, parallel, inserted at unequal levels, the lower with a white basal appendage, the upper frequently eglandular-hairy on the back of the cell; staminodes lacking; disk annular, with 2 small rectangular appendages on the rim; ovary with 2 ovules per cell; style pubescent below; stigma obscurely notched.

Capsule more or less ellipsoid, each cell apically with 2 seeds; seed glabrous, tuberculate.

Distribution:  Total species number unknown because of uncertain genetic definition, but occurring in Africa, India, Asia and Malesia. In Australia there are 2 species, 1 of which extends into S. Aust. Taxa separated predominantly on flower size, var. pogonanthera and var. latifolia, are in need of field investigation. (R. M. Barker, J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. in press.)

Biology: No text

Taxonomic notes: Rostellularia is a segregate of the widespread genus Justicia, which in the broad sense consists of c. 300 species world-wide. As with Dipteracanthus, a narrower approach to the genus has usually been adopted in Australia following the work of Bremekamp (1962) Acta Bot. Neerl. 11:197-200. Only a world revision can indicate whether this approach is justified.

Author: Not yet available