234 XXVI. STERCULIACE.E (MASTERS). 



9. MAHEBNIA, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 223. 



Calyx 5-cleft. Petals 5, obovate or oblong, marcescent or deciduous. 

 Stamens 5, opposite to the petals ; staminodia ; filaments dilated towards 

 the middle or slender all the way up. Anther-lobes parallel. Ovary sessile 

 or stalked, 5-celled. Ovules many in each cell. Styles 5, united at the 

 base. Capsule oblong, loculicidally 5-valved ; valves awnless. Seeds reni- 

 form. Embryo curved. — Herbs or perennials, having almost exactly the 

 habit of Hermannia, but differing from that genus in the inflorescence being 

 terminal or extra-axillary, while the filaments are dilated in the middle or not 

 at all. 



Peduncles few-flowered, opposite the leaves 1. M. abyssinica. 



Peduncles in a many-flowered terminal cyme ....... 2. M. exappendiculata. 



1. M. abyssinica, Hochst. ; Harv. et Sond. Fl. Cap. i. 216. A low- 

 growing much branched perennial. Branches filiform, 10-12 in. long, 

 thinly stellate-pubescent. Leaves on short stalks, oblong, obtuse, coarsely 

 toothed. Stipules lanceolate, entire or pinnately lobed. Peduncles shorter 

 than the leaves and opposite to them, dividing at the upper part into 

 two pedicels; bracts entire, oblong-lanceolate, connate below. Calyx bell- 

 shaped, deeply 5-cleft, with hairy ovate acute lobes, shorter than the petals. 

 Capsule oblong, stellate-pubescent, twice the length of the persistent calyx. 

 Hermannia Quartiniana, Eich. Fl. Abyss, i. 73. 



Nile Land. Abyssinia, Schimper ! Petit I 



The same species occurs in South Africa, the specimens from which region have, however, 

 usually stellate, not simple hairs, on the calyx. 



2. M. exappendiculata, Moat. Perennial, 2-3 ft. high. Branches 

 slender, woody, erecto-patent, purplish, thinly stellate-tomentose. Stipules 

 foliaceous, broad, ovate-lanceolate, \ in. long, nearly as long as the petiole. 

 Leaves oblong-lanceolate, cordate, coarsely duplicate-serrate, slightly to- 

 mentose above, densely covered with greyish tomentum below, 1-3 in. long, 

 ^-1 in. wide. Flowers numerous, in loose, erect, terminal, much-branched 

 cymes, 5-6 in. long. Pedicels clothed with glandular hairs. Calyx cam- 

 panulate ; limb deeply divided into 5 lanceolate acuminate segments, as long 

 as the oblong stalked petals, ultimately deflexed. Filaments linear, uniform, 

 scarcely dilated ; anthers extrorse, as long as or longer than the filaments, 2- 

 fid at the apex ; edges of the loculi ciliolate. Ovary oblong, obtuse, pilose. 

 Styles 5. Capsule oblong, obtuse, £ in. long, longer than the persistent 

 calyx. Seed subreniform or club-shaped, blackish, minutely tuberculate. 



Mozamb. Distr. Mombase, Bouton I 

 Remarkable for its flat exappendiculate filaments. 



10. WALTHEBIA, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 224. 



Calyx 5-cleft. Petals 5, spathulate, marcescent. Stamens 5, united by 

 their filaments into a tube ; anthers 2-celled, cells parallel. Ovary sessile, 

 1 -celled. Style excentric ; stigma club-shaped. Capsule 2-valved, 1 -seeded. 



