Hildebrandtia.| XC. CONVOLVULACE® (BAKER AND RENDLE), 69 
Base of outer pair not decurrent on the peduncle . 1. H. africana. 
Base of outer pair shortly decurrent on the 
peduncle. : : : i : - 2. H. obcordata. 
Inner pair of sepals of female flower, 1-14 ‘lin. long, 
necrescent A : : : : : . 3. H. sepalosa. 
Flowers pentamerous . : : ; : : . 4 HH. somalensis. 
1. H. africana, Vatke in Sitzuwngsb. Ges. Naturf. Fr. Berlin, 1876, 8. 
A much-branched shrub, 6 ft. high, with terete brown spreading woody 
glabrescent branchlets, spinescent at the apex, the thin bark splitting 
in elongated areas. Leaves fascicled on pubescent dwarf shoots, ob- 
lanceolate- to obovate-spathulate, obtuse or emarginate, 3-6 lin, long, 
tapering below into the short petiole, with adpressed silky hairs on both 
surfaces, hairs attached in the middle. Flowers axillary, 1 to few in 
each dwarf branch, 4-merous. Male very shortly stalked, female on a 
slender silky pedicel, about 3 lin. long; bracteoles at the base of the 
stalk, very small, filiform, deciduous. Male flower : 2 outer sepals broadly 
ovate, blunt, a little over 1 lin. long, rather larger than the decussating 
inner pair, which are elliptic-oblong and shortly acute; corolla about 
3 lin. long, deeply 4-fid, lobes elliptic-ovate, blunt; stamens ripening 
in pairs, filaments tapering gradually from base to apex, entire, glabrous ; 
ovary rudiment bearing 2 slender tapering styles. Female flowers: 2 
outer sepals large orbicular, entire, attached in the lower third to the 
pedicel, sparsely silky, becoming 8 to 9 lin. long in the fruit, inner 
sepals minute ; corolla as in the male; stamens infertile, anthers repre- 
sented by a flattened extension of the filament ; styles 2, long, filiform, 
each bearing a large, somewhat horseshoe-shaped, fleshy, crispulate 
stigma. Capsule small, globose, 21 lin. in diam., concealed between the 
thin membranous accrescent outer sepals. Seeds yellowish, 14lin. long. 
—Vatke in Monatsb. Akad. Berl. 1876, 864, Journ. Bot. 1876, 313, 
Bot. Zeit. 1876, 362, and Linnaea, xliii. 525; Hallier f.in fngl. Jahrb. 
XVili. 87, and xxv.. 515. 
Wile Land. Somaliland: Ahl Mountains near Maid, 3000-4000 ft,, Hilde- 
brandt, 1525! 1534! Giacorsa, Riva, 457; and without precise locality, Mrs, Lort 
Phillips ! 
H. undulata, S. Moore in Journ. Bot. 1899, 406, t. 402, fig. B, differs frum 
the type specimens in the almost glabrous character of the outer sepals in the female 
flower, 
2. H. obcordata, S. Moore in Journ. Bot. 1899, 406, t. 402, 
Jig. A. Branchlets woody, resembling those of JZ. africana. Leaves 
on pubescent dwarf-shoots, shortly petioled, obovate with emarginate 
apex, 6 lin. long or less, cuneate at the base, glabrous above, sparsely 
clothed with adpressed hairs beneath. Flowers unknown. Fruits 
solitary or in pairs; peduncles slender, 4—6 lin. long, 2 outer sepals 
suborbicular, about 9 lin. long and broad, base subacute, decurrent on 
the peduncle, reticulately veined, glabrous, united to the pedicel in the 
lower half, two inner minute. Capsule subglobose, 24 lin. long, thinly 
crustaceous, 4-valved. Seeds 4, dark purple, scarcely 1} lin. long. 
Nile Land. Somaliland, Donaldson Smith ! 
