232 CXVIII, THYMELHACEZ (PEARSON). [ Lasiosiphon. 
without precise locality, Buchanan, 428! 1248! Rhodesia: Matopo Hills, Miss 
Gibbs! 
Also in South Africa. 
L. Kraussii, as thus defined, is an extremely variable species. The principal 
variations are seen (1) in the length and breadth of the leaves and involucral bracts ; 
(2) in the hairiness of the stems and leaves (the extreme forms being very hairy and 
glabrous respectively) ; (3) in the lobing of the petals, which present all gradations 
between entire and completely bisected organs. An examination of the tropical and 
South African specimens shows that these variations occur in plants from the same 
area, and to some extent, indeed, in the same plant. Therefore, in the absence of any 
recognisable correlation of differential characters a subdivision of the species is 
impossible, and it seems that no practical advantage is gained by keeping up the 
varieties proposed by Meisuer. 
A specimen recorded by Hiern in Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. i. 925 as “ apparently 
an undescribed species of Gnidia, related to Arthrosolen flavus, Rendle,” is more 
probably a form of Lasiosiphon Kraussii. It was collected in Angola: Huilla; in 
hilly places about Lake Ivantala, Welwitsch, 6480 ! 
9 L. Rive, H.. H. W. Pearson. Arborescent: the many- 
flowered branches terete, clothed with yellow tomentum, later glab- 
rescent, Leaves shortly petioled, lanceolate, acuminate, acute, entire, 
covered with a white silky tomentum when young, at length glabres- 
cent, subcoriaceous, 1-1} in. long, 4-4 in. broad. Heads terminal, 
dense, 80—100-flowered ; involucral bracts 7-8, spreading or reflexed 
during flowering; very densely covered with a white silky tomentum, 
about equal in length to the flowers; peduncle leafy. Flowers 5- 
merous. Calyx-tube terete, clothed very densely with long spreading 
silky hairs 4-} in. long; lobes oblong, rounded at the apex, silky 
beneath, glabrous within, yellow. Petals delicately membranons, 
linear, about 3 lin. long. Fruit crowned with silky hairs.—G@nidia 
Rive, Gilg in Ann, Istit. Bot. Roma, vi. 98. 
Mile Land. Somaliland: between Jaribule and Hars, Ruspoli & Riva, 189; 
between Bidduma and Alghe, among herbs and shrubs, Ruspoli & Riva, 1239. 
10. L. Passargei, H. H. W. Pearson. Flowering stems erect, 
more or less branched, 4—8 in. high (Passarge); branches densely clothed 
with silky-velvety pubescence. Leaves oblong or lanceolate-oblong, 
acute, sessile, coriaceous, clothed on both surfaces with dense silky 
velvety pubescence, }-} in. long, 2-3 lin. broad. Heads solitary, 
terminal, many-flowered (40-50); involucral bracts 6, similar to the 
leaves or broader and more densely pilose, equalling the flowers in 
length. Flowers 5-merous, yellow (Passarge). Calyx-tube cylindric, 
densely silky-tomentose, }-} in. long; lobes oblong, deeply emarginate 
(? always), with white silky pubescence on the outside, about 14 lin. 
long, } lin. broad. Petals very thin, linear, emarginate or more or less 
deeply divided (sometimes to the base), about } as long as the sepals.— 
Gnidia Passarget, Gilg in Eng]. Jahrb. xxiii. 206. 
Upper Guinea. Cameroons: Ngaumdere, 4000 ft., on the burnt savannahs, 
Passarge, 126! 
