ACAULESCENT SPECIES OF MALVASTRUM. 219 
Folia dense hirsuta, marginibus crenatis ; pedunculi 
uniflori .............. ennt loss ...... 14. M, Richi. 
Folia ultra medium 5-lobata. 
Folia basi plus minusve cordata; bracteæ subulatæ, 
strigoso-hirsutæ ...,.,...,..........,..... 18. M. Englerianum. 
Folia basi cuneatæ ; bracteæ lineares, glabræ, sæpius 
caducæ ,.....,.,....... TED 16. M. oriastrum. 
1. MarnvasrRUM PURPUREUM, A. W. Hill.— Fruticulus depressus ; caudex 
subterraneus, lignosus, firmus. Folia rosulata, solo adpressa ; petiolus 2-3 em. 
longus, parce pilosus ; stipulae membranaceæ, ovato-lanceolatze, acutze ; lamina 
ambitu ovata vel pentagona, basi cordata, 1:3-2 em. longa, 1-2 em. lata, 
glabra vel sparsissime pilosa, profunde 3-5-lobata, lobis irregulariter incisis 
lobulis ovato vel obovato-oblongis obtusis congestis. Flores singuli, pedun- 
eulis 1-2 сш. longis subglabris vel dense pilosis ; involucrum caducum, 
prophyllis 2-3, 5-7 mm. longis lanceolatis subacutis glabris vel margine 
pilosis. Calyx 1-1'1 em. longus, sub medio 5-lobus, segmentis 6-7 mm. 
longis triangulari-ovatis acutis, extra glaber vel rarius parce pilosus, segmentis 
intrastellato-ciliatis. Corolla purpurea, plus minusve L:8 ст. longa ; petala 
obovato-oblonga, rotundata vel retusa, 7 mm. lata, basi in tubum circa 
2 mm. longum coalita uti staminum tubus basi stellato-tomentosum. Stamina 
in eaput plus minusve elongatum instructa. Carpella circa 10, birostrata, 
rostris 1:5 mm. longis, dorso stellato-ciliata. 
Malva Purdiaei, Planch., in Triana et Planch., Prod. Flor. Nov. Granat. 
р. 154; Wedd. in Chl. And. ii. p. 275 ; non Malvastrum Purdiaei, A. Gray, 
ex Triana et Planch. 1. c. et ex Wedd. 1. с. p. 275. 
Malvastrum Purdiaei (А. Gray), Baker fil. in Journ. Bot. xxix. (1891) 
p. 171, partim (?). 
VENEZUELA: New Granada, W. Purdie; summit of the Paramo La Colorado 
(very rare), Purdie, Sept. 1845 (Herb. Kew.) ! 
This plant, colleeted by Purdie at the summit of the Paramo La Colorado, 
New Granada, in Sept. 1845 and again in 1846, is said to be “very rare ” and 
“a showy little plant." It was described by Planchon under the name 
Malva Purdiaei, in 1862, and was considered to be synonymous with the 
Malvastrum Purdiaei, A. Gray, described in the Botany of the U.S. Expl. 
Exp. in 1854, though the diserepaney between the one-flowered inflorescences 
of the Purdie plant of Planchon and the capitulate inflorescences of the plant 
described by Gray is pointed out. Weddell doubtfully accepts the same 
position. Planchon suggests that Gray may have had some examples of 
Malva acaulis B. granatensis, Planch. et Lind., before him when he made 
his species M. Purdiaei, and Weddell appears to incline to the same view. 
On examining the material at Kew it has been found that there are two 
distinct plants collected by Purdie—one the original Malvastrum Purdiaet, 
A. Gray, which had been placed with a specimen of Linden's labelled 
