150 xviii. portulace^ (oliver). [Tahnum. 



Leaves obovate-cuneate, very obtuse, entire, apiculate. Flowers in 



elongate racemes or racemose panicles 2. T. cuneifohum. 



Flowers axillary, solitary, or peduncles 2 -flowered. 

 Branches spreading, leafy. Leaves lanceolate to linear . . . . 3. T. Caffrum. 



1. T. crassifolium, Willd.; DC. Prod. iii. 357. Woody below with 

 succulent, erect, leafy, glabrous branches. Leaves fleshy, oblong-elliptical 

 or oblanceolate-oblong, narrowed below into the petiole, obtuse, entire or 

 emarginate and mucronulate, 2-3 in. long, £-l£ in. broad. Flowers red, 

 in loosely forked, terminal, few-flowered, cymose panicles. Bracts minute, 

 lanceolate or subulate. Sepals ovate acute or acuminate. Stamens indefi- 

 nite. Seeds compressed with radiate striae. 



Upper Guinea. Niger, T. Vogel ! (cultivated ground about towns) Barter ! 

 Also in South America and the West Indies. Dr. Grisebach uuites T. crassifolium and 

 T. triangulare, Willd. (El. Brit. W. Indies, 56). 



2. T. cuneifolium, Willd.; DC. Prod. iii. 357. A glabrous shrub 

 attaining several feet with erect rod-like branches, leafy below and terminating 

 in long racemes or racemose panicles of purple flowers. Leaves fleshy, al- 

 ternate, obovate- or oblanceolate-cuneate or rotundate, narrowed into the 

 petiole, rounded above, entire, mucronate or apiculate, 1-2 in. long, a _ l in - 

 broad. Raceme erect with scattered, 1-4-flowered, usually curved peduncles 

 much longer than the oval deciduous bracts, -J— § in. long. Sepals ovate- 

 rotundate, somewhat apiculate. Anther-cells free except at attachment. 

 Capsule globose, about the size of a pea, crustaceous. Seeds with radiate 

 striae. 



Upper Guinea, Senegal ! 



Nile Land. Abyssinia, Schimper ! Unyoro, Speke and Grant ! 



Lower Guinea. Loanda, Angola, Dr. Welwitsch ! 



Mozamb. Distr. Zambesi, Dr. Kirk! 



Originally described from Arabian specimens by Forskal. Nearly allied to, if not iden- 

 tical with T. indicum, W. et A., in the Indian specimens of which, however, the inflores- 

 cence is more panicled. 



3. T. Caffrum, E. and Z. ; Sond. in II. Capensis, ii. 385. A succulent 

 leafy biennial or perennial herb from a thick, often several-headed root-stock 

 with spreading or subpatent glabrous branches. Leaves fleshy, lanceolate, 

 elliptic-lanceolate to oval or nearly linear, acute or subacute, mucronate, l-lf 

 in. long, f-i in. broad ; petiole 1-2 lines or shorter. Flowers yellow or 

 sulphur, axillary, solitary ; peduncles exceeding or shorter than the leaves 

 with one or more pair of subulate bracts, occasionally 2- or even 3-flowered, 

 decurved above in fruit. For synonymy, see 'Flora Capensis,' ii. 385. 



Lower Guinea. Loanda, Angola, Dr. Welwitsch ! 



Order XIX. TAMARISCINEJE (by Prof. Oliver). 



Tribe Tamarisce^e. 



Flowers small, regular, usually hermaphrodite. Sepals 5 (4-6), fr ee » im " 



