334 MR. H. N. RIDLEY ON NEW AND 
tinguished by the linear acute leaves hardly dilated at the base 
and gradually tapering to the point, covered densely with a 
pubescence, especially on the back, the edges also being furnished 
with numerous slender spines. "The bases of the old leaves which 
clothe the branches are deeply grooved and recurved at the tip. 
The pedicel of the flower is slenderer, and the flower itself smaller 
than that of X. dasylirioides. The ovary is 4 inch long and very 
viscid. It was collected at Ankafana by Deans Cowan, who also 
obtained X. dasylirioides, Bak., and.X. pinifolia, Willd., which does 
not seem to have been collected since the time of Commerson, three 
of whose specimens are in the herbarium of the British Museum. 
Drimta Cowan, n. sp. ; bulbo ovoideo magno, foliis duobus 
synanthiis linearibus acutis flaccidis, seapo erecto crassiusculo 
bipedali et ultra tereti rufescente, racemo laxiusculo, floribus 
triginta, pedicellis brevibus suberectis, bracteis linearibus acu- 
minatis basi dilatatis, quam pedicelli longioribus, perianthio 
tubuloso segmentis ligulatis acuminatis subequalibus quam 
tubus duplo longioribus, staminibus uniseriatis, filamentis com- 
planatis, antheris oblongis versatilibus, ovario ovato trigono, stylo 
filiformi, stigmate capitato, capsula ovata alata reticulata brunnea, 
seminibus pluribus discoideis atris. 
No plant of this African genus has hitherto been recorded from 
Madagascar. This species belongs to the section in which the 
leaves appear just as the flowers are beginning to wither. The 
bulb is, in the pressed plant, 2 inches in diameter, and covered 
with the purplish tunies. The leaves are 9 inches long and 
li inch broad; the pedicels of the flowers lengthen in the 
fruiting state to ł inch. The perianth is 2 inch long, reddish in 
the dry plant; the segments twice as long as the tube, and ter- 
minated by a short point. The capsule is shorter than the per- 
sistent perianth, about inch long. It is called “ tongolovoa- 
lava," Rat-onion, by the natives, who use it for poisoning rats. 
It was collected by Deans Cowan close to Fiarantsoa, Betsileo- 
land, growing on a rock with damp soil. 
KYLLINGA ELATIOR, Kunth. This South-African plant has been 
obtained at Ankafana by Deans Cowan; it is called by the natives 
Kirindrala. 
COURTOISIA CYPEROIDES, Nees. Imarina.— Hildebrandt, 8795. 
Hitherto, as far as Iam aware, only recorded from the Indian 
peninsula. 
