382 LXXIII. COMPOSITE (OLIVER AND HIERN).  [Melanthera. 
bracts 2-3-seriate, outer more or less herbaceous, inner dry, sheathing 
the achenes. Corolla of ray ligulate conspicuous yellow. _Anther-base 
obtuse or minutely sagittate. Achenes thick, 3-4-angled, apex trun- 
cate or depressed; pappus of 2 or more distinct caducous sete, or 
wanting in the ray-achenes.—More or less scabrid herbs with opposite 
petiolate leaves and axillary and terminal solitary or loosely cymose at 
length subglobose heads. 
A small genus of Tropical Africa and America. ; 
Leaves on long petioles. Sete of pappus 6-8, caducous . . 1. M. Brownet. 
Leaves subsessile. Sete of disk-pappus 2. Involucral bracts ° 
not setaceous-pointed re 
Leaves shortly petiolate. Setee of disk-pappus 2. Involucral 
bracts setaceous-pointed we ee eee 
2. M. abyssinica. 
3. M. pungens. 
1. M. Brownei, Schultz Bip. in Flora, 1844, p. 673. Scabrid 
herb, sometimes scandent, 2-10 ft. high. Branches obtusely quadran- 
gular, sulcate, asperous, strigulose. Leaves deltoid-ovate, sometimes 
3-lobed below, acuminate, subtruncate at the base, dentate, very scab- 
rous above, strigose beneath, 2-6 by 1-3 in. ; petioles 4-1} in. Capitula 
3-? in. diameter, in lax nearly leafless terminal’ cymes ; peduncles 
14-6 in. simple or branched. Florets all yellow; those of the ray 
female. Achenes turbinate, trigonous or compressedly quadrangular, 
yy in. long. Pappus of 8-10 short rigid unequal deciduous bristles. — 
Buphthalmum scandens, Schum. et Thonn. Pl. Guin. 392 ; Lipotriche 
Brownei, DC. Prodr. v. 544. 
Upper Guinea. Niger, Barter! Vogel! Fernando Po, Vogel! Mann! Abbeo- 
kuta, /rving ! Guinea, Thonning ; Sierra Leone, Afzelius ! 
Lower Guinea. Congo, Chr. Smith! Loango, Soyaur! 
Mozamb. Distr. Zambesi-land, Kirk! 
Occurs also in Natal, etc. 
2. M. abyssinica, Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. ii. p. 377. An 
erect scabrid branched herb 2 ft. high. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, 
attennate-acute, serrate, asperous on both sides, subsessile, amplexicaul, 
1}-4 by }-1} in. Capitula 2-1 in. diameter, in corymbose cymes; 
pedicels ranging up to 3 in. Outer involucral scales 5-6, oval-oblong; 
pubescent ; innermost coloured, narrower. Ray-florets neuter, ligule 
obtuse obsoletely trifid. Achenes turbinate-oblong, compresso-sub- 
quadrangular glabrous, those of the disk with 2 barbellate set@.—- 
Wurschmittia abyssinica, Schultz Bip. in Hb. Schimp. Abyss. i. 2- 334, 
iii. n. 1533; A. Rich. Fl. Abyss. i. p. 413. 
Nile Land. Abyssinia, Schimper! Petit! Gallabat, Schweinfurth ! 
3. Mi. pungens, 0. §-H. An erect rigid scabrid herb, 4 ft. high 
or more. Stem and branches obtusely quadrangular, sulcate. eaves 
ovate or the upper ones lanceolate, acuminate, shallowly dentate, broa 
near the somewhat narrowed not truncate base, shortly petiolate, 
ranging up to 6 by 33 in. Capitula hemispherical, §—4 in. diameter, 
in a rather lax corymbose cyme, pedicellate. Involucral scales oh 
lanceolate, strigulose, subequal, rather falling short of the disk-flore . 
taper-pointed, especially the inner terminating in barbellate setaceou' 
