- ^ 





J[R. N. E. BROWN ; NEW AND OLD 



M 



§ 



All montlon o£ this plant is omitted from the works of Sonder and of Bero-er. 



Haworth placed it as a variety of Af. muUiJf, 



But 



M 



that its synonymy is as follows : 



M. TUMIDULFM, Haw. Synop. p. 286 (1812) ; & Rev. p. 129 : Salm- 

 Dyck, Mescml). § 37, i\^. 3, excluding the synonym M.foliosum, Haw., 

 not of tSonder nor of Bergor. M.hnhricatum var. ruhrum, Haw. Suppl. 



* p. 05 (1819). M. muliijlorum var- ruhrum. Haw, Rev. p. 128 (1821) : 



DC. Prodr. vol. iii. p. 431. 

 SwELLEXDAM Div. By the right bank of the Zondoreinde River, Jan. 27, 



1815, Burcliell 7500! Seed 8<^2. 



Haworth described this as a variety of At. imhrtcatum from a plant raised 

 in Enj^land from seed collected by Bnrchell in South Africa. In Bnrcheir 

 MSS. seed-list (or '^ Ilortus Fulhamensis ^) the name M, imhricatum (without 

 the varietal name, as was usually his custom) is entered under seed no. 832, 

 which is stated to bclono; to no. 7500 of his Herbarium, and he remarks that 



the plant is showy, and its '^flowers small, red in Africa, but white in 

 Eno-land." As there is no evidence that the plant had flowered in En^-land^ 

 since Burchell has no entry of its having done so, and Haworth remarks of 

 it "I have only seen a living plant and dried flowers from Mr. Bnrchell," 



the remark that the flowers are wliito in England is doubtless intended to 

 applv to the typi'.^al M, imhricatam and not to his own plant, winch was then 

 supposed to difTer from M. imWicatum only by having red flowers. The 

 habit of tVio plant and the number, size, details, and colour of the flowers 

 are however, all quite diffi^ront from those of ilA. imhricahnn and allies. 

 No dried specimen of the cultivated plant appears to have been preserved, 

 nor is there any drawing of it at Kew. But of no. 7500 Burchell collected 

 five specimens — two of them are at Kew, and the others are probably in the 

 Asa Gray Herbarium at Harvard University in the United States, and that 



at Petrograd. 



The description of M, tumidulum by Sonder, more or less copied by 

 Bero'er, is based upon a totally different plant with much larger flowers (see 



festlvum, N. E. Br., p. 122) collected by Zeyher ( 



m 



in Van Uhynsdorp Division. Besides this plant of Zeyher's, Schlcchtcr 

 82G7, Wolley Dod, 1473, Pearson 3047, 3048, 3051), and Stephens k Glover 



M, 



are 



all quite distinct from that species, and represent among them four 

 perfectly distinct species, which all come from quite a different region, 

 where M. Unnululum is not at all likely to grow. 



At Kew there is an original coloured drawing of the type of Af. lumhhdnmy 

 but it represents merely a young branch without flowers. The leaves, 

 however^ w<dl agree with those of Salm-Dyck's figure of M. tumidulum 



