Octolepis. | CXVIIL THYMULEACEA (PEARSON). 253 
1. O. decalepis, Gilg in Engl. Jahrb. -xxviii, 142. A low 
shrub with glabrous grey-brown branches. Leaves oblong or obovate- 
oblong, long-acuminate and acute or rounded at the apex, narrowed 
towards the base, entire, papery, glabrous, paler beneath, with vena- 
tion very prominent beneath, 3-54 in. long, 1-2 in. broad; petiole 
thick, pilose, 3-4 lin. long. Flowers white, 5-merous, axillary, usually 
solitary, rarely in pairs; pedicel 13-2 lin. long, densely silky-hairy. 
Sepals ovate, broadly imbricate, acute, grey-silky-hairy above, more 
densely so beneath, 14-2 lin. long, 1 lin. broad at the base. Petals 
bifid to the base; lobes rectangular, } as long as the sepals, densely 
grey-silky-hairy on the margins, elsewhere on both sides sparsely and 
shortly pilose. Stamens 1-1} lin. long; filaments somewhat flattened, 
villous on the edges; anthers small. Ovary very densely pilose, 4- or 
5-celled; stigma 5-lobed. Fruit (hardly mature) globose, }$ in. 
in diam. 
Upper Guinea. Liberia: Grand Bassa, Fishtown, in moist bushy shady 
places 16 ft. above the sea, Dinklage, 1741; 1860; 2044! 
2. ©. nodosericea, Gilg in Engl. Jahrb. xxviii. 143. A shrub 
3-5 ft. high; branches yellow-tomentose when young, later glabrous, 
longitudinally striate. Leaves obovate-oblong or obovate-lanceolate, 
shortly and broadly acuminate at the apex, narrowed towards the base, 
sometimes subrotund, entire, membranous, glabrous above, silvery with 
short adpressed hairs beneath, with venation prominent above and 
beneath, 24-42 in. long, 3-1? in. broad; petiole thick, densely yellow- 
tomentose, about 2 lin. long. Flowers 4-merous, whitish-yellow, 
solitary or sometimes in pairs at the very prominent densely yellow- 
silky-villous nodes; pedicels much shorter than the flowers, very 
densely yellow-silky-villous. Sepais ovate, imbricate, acute, subglab- 
rous within, densely yellow-silky-villous without. Petals 4, bifid to 
the base, free, $ as long as the sepals, densely pilose, fimbriate along 
the margin. Filaments as long as the petals; anthers ovate-oval. 
Ovary small, very densely silky-villous; style very short, scarcely 
exceeding the indument; stigma thick, capitate. 
Upper Guinea. Cameroons; underwood in the shady forest near Kribi, 
30 ft. above the sea, Zenker, 823. 
3. O. Dinklagei, Gilg in Engl. Jahrb. xxviii. 143. A shrub 
6 ft. high, with grey branches, glabrous when young, with very 
numerous lenticels. Leaves obovate-oblong or obovate, sparingly pilose 
beneath when young, later glabrous, papery, long and abruptly 
acuminate-acute, usually rounded at the base, entire, paler beneath, 
with venation more prominent beneath, 4-7} in. long, 14-33 in. broad ; 
petiole thick, densely silky-villous when young, at length calvescent, 
2-4 lin. long. Flowers dimorphic, 4-merous, few, white, in axillary 
fascicles at the densely yellow-silky-hairy nodes ; bracteoles very small, 
silky ; pedicels as long as the flowers, shortly pilose. Sepals free to 
the base, triangular-ovate, broadly imbricate, densely and shortly pilose 
on both sides, very shortly fimbriate, expanded during flowering, 
