Oxygonum.]  CIX. POLYGONACE& (BAKER AND WRIGHT). 103 
Racemes terminal, up to 10 in. long; bracts cuspidate and with about 
two lateral set ; pedicels slightly longer than the bracts, 2-3 together. 
Perianth campanulate ; tube very short ; lobes about 2 lin. long, oblong, 
obtuse. Stamens about 1} lin. long; 3 inner filaments much dilated 
at the base. Style shorter than the stamens, divided about half-way 
down ; stigmas subcapitate. Fruit triquetrous, with 3 spines below 
the middle, glabrous. 
Wile Land. British East Africa: Gilgil River, 6000-7000 ft., Scott-Elliot, 
6651! Ngomeni, in shallow sand, Scott-Elliot, 6265 ! 
Mozamb. Dist. German East Africa: east shore of Lake Tanganyika, Scott- 
Elliot, 8322 ! 
When additional material has been obtained this may prove to be a form of 
O. salicifolium, Dammer. 
Imperfectly known species. 
10. O. Baumii, Dammer in Baum, Kunene-Samb. Exped. 231 
(name only). A shrub about 4 ft. high. Stem erect, cylindrical, 
hirsute. Leaves broadly lanceolate or subhastate, acuminate, cuneate 
at the base, papillate especially on the upper surface, up to 2 in. long 
and 8 lin. wide, margin cartilaginous, minutely ciliate; ochre cylin- 
drical, 5 lin. long, white pubescent, sete about 10, nearly as long as 
the tube, pallid. Raceme slender; bracts whitish pubescent, shortly 
and obliquely campanulate, cuspidate, shortly and finely ciliate. 
Perianth about 3 lin. long, pubescent outside; lobes oblong, acute, 
about twice as long as the tubular portion. Stamens about half as long 
as the perianth. Styles nearly twice as long as the stamens, Fruit not 
seen. 
Lower Guinea. Angola: Kuito River, near Onjimba, 3760 ft., Baum, 532! 
The specimen seen bears only young flowers. 
11. O. fruticosum, Dammer in Bawm, Kunene-Samb. Exped. 231. 
A bush about 4 ft. high. 
Lower Guinea. Angola: Kulleis, Maramba, in white sandy soil at the edge 
of woods, Baum, 221. 
2. POLYGONUM, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. iii. 97. 
Flowers hermaphrodite, rarely polygamous. Perianth coloured, 
deeply 5- (rarely 4-) lobed or partite, persistent; segments equal or 
the three outer rather larger, but little accrescent. Stamens usually 
8, inserted near the base of the perianth; filaments filiform ; anthers 
oblong, the two cells united only by a short connective. Ovary 
trigonous with 38 styles or lenticular with 2 styles ; stigmas capitate, 
usually entire; ovule solitary, basal. Fruit a trigonous or lenticular 
nut enclosed in the persistent perianth. Seed similar in shape to the 
nut; embryo eccentric or lateral in the endosperm ; cotyledons usually 
narrow, longer or shorter than the incumbent or accumbent radicle.— 
