252 DR. M. T. MASTERS ON SOTJTH-AEBICAI^ BESTIACE-a;. 



Plants feminese nimis imperfecte descriptse cliaracteres adjlcio. 



Culmus vagintjeque ut in mare. Panicula terminalis, oblonga, 2-3 poll, 

 longa, pluristachya, spathis magnis convolutis interstixicta. Spicule 

 1 -floras. BractecB ovata?, acumiuatse, coriacese, ferrugincEe, dorso 

 medio nonnunquam villosse. Flores subtrigoni, bracteas duplo triplo- 

 ve superantes. GlumcB rigidse, ferruginese ; externce tres sequales, late 

 ovatae, subcymbiformes, carinatse, glabrae, miicronata^. Glumce in- 

 ternee conformes, ecarinatse, externis paulo longiores latioresque, 

 fructum vix superantes. Capsula coriacea, ferruginea, triloba, tri- 

 locularis, superne stylorum vestigiis superata, angulis salientibus longi- 

 tudinaliter dehiscens. Semen in quovis loculo solitarium, pendulum, 

 oblongunij subtrigonum, comeum. Testa (?) membranacea, laxa, longi- 

 tudinaliter pllcata, plicis undulatis. 



This plant, remarkable for its thick culms and large inflores- 

 cence, is called, in some parts of the Cape, "Elephant-Eeed." Its 

 seeds are marked with white projecting wavy ridges (see -Z>. ma- 

 crocarpd). There is a specimen of the male plant in the Linnean 

 herbarium. 



Htpodiscits, Nees ah Esenlecic in Lindl. Nat. Syst. ed. 2. p. 450 



(1836); Kunth^ JEnum, iii. p. 481. 



Chak. EMEifD. — riores dioici ; masculi spicati, singuli comprestii, 

 bractea stipati. Spicae paucse vel cymoso-paniculatse. Periau- 

 thium biseriale, sexglume ; glumse ina^quales, exteriores late- 

 rales carinat^, apterse. Stamina 3, distincta. Antherse dorso 

 infra medium affixee, antice, secundum longitudinem, dehis- 

 centos. — Spicae femineae solitarise, vel paucae in cymani linea- 

 rem splciformem disposita?, plurlbracteatie, uniflora?. TIos ter- 

 minalis, stipitatus vel sessilis. Perianthium hyalinum, sex- 

 glume, vel nullum. Ovarium stipitulatum, disco lobato ssepis- 

 sime circumdatum, abortu 1-loculare. Stylus brevis, crassus, sub- 

 carnosus, in stigmata 2, elongata, interne plumoso-villosa di- 

 visus. Fructus osseus, 1-locularis, monospermus, indehiscens, 

 laevis vel plerumque plus minus tuberculatus, stipitulatus, disco 

 perigyno vel hypogyno circumdatua. — Ehizoma horizontalc, 

 repens, vaginis approximatis obtectum. Culmi simplices, re- 

 mote vaginati. Vaginse arctse persistentes. — Leucoploeus, Ne^s 

 ah Escnh. iii LindJ. Xat. S?/st ed. 2. p. 450 ; KnnfJi, Enuvu 

 iii. p. 481. — Boeckhia, Jumth, Enmn, iii. p. 449 (anno 1841). 

 Lepidanthus, Nees ah Esenh. Linncea, v. p. 6G5. 



emmet 



1. II. ARisTATUs, N. ah E. in LindL Nat. St/st, Bot. ed. 2. p. 450(nomen 

 tantum). Culmis tcretibus ; vaginis ellipticis, nisi ad apicem arete 



