Boottia. | CXXXI. HYDROCHARIDE# (WRIGHT). 9 
4, B. crassifolia, Ridl. in Journ. Linn. Soc. xxii. 239. Rhizome 
thick, obliquely descending, densely covered with ovate scales. Leaves 
ligulate, lorate, obtuse, attenuated into the petiole, fleshy and sub- 
coriaceous, 5—7-nerved, 19 in. long, 2-3 in. wide, crisped at the margin. 
Scape 15 in. long, smooth. Spathe tubular, slightly swollen at the base, 
6-winged ; teeth very short and obtuse. Sepals lanceolate, obtuse, 6 lin. 
long, 3 lin. wide. Petals yellow. 
Lower Guinea. Angola; Mumpulla and Lopolla, Welwitsch, 6470! 
5. B. abyssinica, Ridl. in Journ. Linn. Soc. xxii. 239. Rhizome 
thick, submerged, emitting numerous long rootlets. Leaves many, thin, 
lanceolate, obtuse, 15 in. long, 14 in. wide, petiolate. Scape thick, 
fragile, 9 in. long. Spathe oblong-elliptical, scarcely attenuate at the 
apex, 2 in. long, about 4 in. wide, 2-flowered. Sepals lanceolate, obtuse, 
coriaceous, 9 lin. long, 14 lin. wide. Petals yellow, slightly longer than 
the sepals. 
Nile Land. Abyssinia: Zana, Schimper, 1452! Gazelle River, Schweinfurth, 
1159! 1254! Jur Ghattas, Schweinfurth, 2423! Madi, Speke and Grant, 696! 
Speke and Grant’s 6204 from the Nile and Schweinfurth’s 3638 from Monbuttu 
may prove to be a white-flowered form of this species. 
A plant resembling this has been collected by Barter at Nupe (910), which in the 
absence of perfect flowers is not determinable. 
6. B. macrantha, Wright. Leaves broadly ovate, rotundate at 
the base, 3 in. long, 24 in. wide, 9-nerved, smooth ; petiole 6 in. long, 
slightly sheathing at the base. Scape thick. Spathe tubular, smooth ; 
teeth 3, triangular, membranous. Sepals ligulate, obtuse, 9 lin. long, 
1 lin. wide. Petals 13 in. long, yellow. Styles 3, bipartite, covered 
with long papille. Male flowers not seen. 
Mozamb. Dist. Portuguese East Africa: Quilimane, Scott / 
This species is at once recognised by the ovate-rotundate leaves and by the flowers 
being much larger than in any other species. 
7. THALASSIA, Soland. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. iii. 455. 
Dicecious. Male flower on a long pedicel. Perianth 1-seriate, 
3-merous ; segments petaloid. Stamens 6; anthers long, subsessile. 
Rudiment of ovary none. Female flower at length stipitate. Ovary 
with a long beak. Fruit stipitate, globose. Seeds many on parietal 
placentas.—Submerged marine plants. Rhizome long creeping, annulate. 
Leaves ligulate. Scapes of both sexes similar. 
i A genus of two species, one in the Red Sea and India, the other in the West 
ndies. 
l. T. Hemprichii, Zhrb. ex Aschers. in Boiss. Flor. Orient. v. 7. 
Rhizome creeping, with numerous annular scars. Leaves fascicled at 
intervals, linear, obtuse, 6 in. long, 3 lin. wide. Flowers solitary 
in diphyllous, axillary (?) spathes. Stamens 6.— Engl. Pf. Ost-Afr. 
