146 xvii. caryophyllace^: (oliver). [Polycarpaa. 



cymes, on widely divaricate, branching peduncles or singly terminating the 

 slender branches in the simpler forms. Sepals very acute, about twice as long 

 as the capsule, two to four times longer than the petals. — Mollia stellata, 

 Willd. ; Schum. et Thonn. Guin. PI. 136. 

 Upper Guinea. Niger, T. Vogel! Ansell ! 



3. P. linearifolia, DC. Prod. iii. 374. An erect herb or decumbent 

 at the base with erect, hoary-tomentose, more or less forked branches, from 

 about 1-3 ft. in height. Leaves in pairs or pseudo-verticils, linear or linear- 

 subulate, glabrous or thinly pilose with long subulate scarious stipules. 

 Flowers in dense, hemispherical or subglobose, many-flowered, solitary or 

 loosely-panicled heads terminating the erect branches, -|-1 in. diam. Sepals 

 lanceolate, very acute, considerably exceeding the petals and 2-mauy-seeded 

 capsule. — DC. Mem. Paronyc. t. 6. 



Upper Guinea. Senegambia, Sieber ! Bidjem ! Niger, T. Vogel ! and others. 

 Nile Land, Abyssinia, Schimper ! Kordofan, Kotschy ; Bahr-el-Abiad (Schweinf. et 

 Azeh. Enum.). 



Lower Guinea. Pungo Andongo, Br. Weltoitsch ! 

 Perhaps a congested variety of P. corymbosa. 



4. P. glabrifolia, DC. Prod. iii. 374. An ascending or erect herb with 

 a tomentose or at length glabrate more or less branched stem. Leaves 

 crowded or in rather remote pairs, linear-lanceolate, subacute or rather ob- 

 tuse, somewhat 3-nerved, glabrous, with silvery, ovate-lanceolate, finely- 

 pointed stipules. Flowers in compact, terminal', roundish, capitate, many- 

 flowered cymes, solitary, or 2 or 3 together in our specimens. Sepals ovate, 

 acute, but not narrowed to a fine point as in the other tropical African species, 

 considerably exceeding the capsule. — DC. Mem. Paronyc. t. 5. 



Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, Bon ! Grand Bassa, T. Vogel ! Senegal. 

 Nile Land. Kordofan, Kotschy (fFebb, Frag. Fl. Mh.). 



5. P. fragilis, Delile ; DC. Prod. iii. 374. Hoary-puberulous or -to- 

 mentose herb of ^-1 ft. with numerous spreading branches usually fr° m a 

 woody nodose stock ; lateral branches usually short. Leaves linear-lanceo- 

 late with re volute margins, conspicuously mucronate, hoary or tomentose. 

 Stipules silvery, membranous. Flowers in small, rather densely fascicle 

 cymes either terminal or lateral on the very short lateral brauchlets. Sepa s 

 ovate-elliptical, apiculate, rather thick and herbaceous with a broadly mem- 

 branous margin, exceeding the petals. 



Nile Land. Nnbia [Schweinf. et Asch. Enum.). 

 Also in Egypt and Arabia. 



6. P. spicata, Arnott in Ann. Nat. Hist. iii. (1839) 91. A glabrous 

 herb of 2-6 in. with straight spreading branches from the rosulate radica 

 leaves, each bearing a leafy tuft and umbellate peduncles terminating in dens 

 little fascicles of flowers, or, in small specimens, a single tuft of flowers atte^ 

 1 or 2 pairs of reduced leaves. Leaves oblanceolate-spathulate, acute o 

 obtuse. Sepals scarious, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate with a narrow coloure 

 median portion. Petals much shorter than the sepals, oblong, minute J 

 erose or emarginate. — P. staticceformis, Hochst. et Stead. ; Webb, Frag. 

 jEth. 40. 



