Donax.] CXXXIV. SCITAMINEÆ (BAKER). 315 
7. DONAX, Lour.; Schumann in Engl. Jahrb. xv. 434. 
Sepals 3, free, linear-oblong, equal, scariose, persistent. Petals 3, 
convolute, spreading at the tip. Staminodia united in a tube at 
the base; lobes petaloid, very irregular. Lip obovate, keeled inside ; 
staminiferous lobe narrow, with the 1-celled anther adnate to it on one 
side. Ovary 3-celled; cells l-ovuled; style adnate below to the 
staminal tube, involute. Stigma dilated. Fruit indehiscent, ‘globose 
or compressed, 1—3-seeded. Seeds subglobose, with an aril and a 
horseshoe-shaped embryo.—Rhizome tuberous or woody. Stems long, 
slender, erect, leafy, branched. Leaves oblong, cuspidate, with a long 
sheath and short free petiole. Flowers in lax terminal panicles, small, 
fugitive, white, yellow or blue; bracts cylindrical, not usually im- 
bricated.—Clinogyne, Salisb.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. iii. 651. 
Species about twelve, the others in Tropical Asia. 
Flowers comparatively large. 
Bracts not imbricated A > ; . 1. D. cuspidata. 
Bracts imbricated . S ; S ; . 2. D. ariilaia. 
Flowers comparatively small. 
Pairs of flowers single. : S : : . 3. D. azurea. 
Pairs of flowers many to a branch. 
Fruit lobed, 3-seeded . , S ; S . 4. D filipes. 
Fruit globose, usually 2-seeded. 
Leaves small. 
Fruit glabrous . . 
Fruit pubescent . e 
Leaves large. 
Bracts glabrous. ; 
Free tip of petiole 4—4} in. long . 7. D. ugandensis. 
Free tip of petiole 1 in. long. / . 8. D. leucantha. 
Bracts pubescent : - 9. D. purpurea. 
D. oligantha, 
D. congensis. 
EE 
‘1. D. cuspidata, Schumann in Engl. Jahrb. xv. 440. Stems 
glabrous, stramineous, reaching a length of 10-12 ft. ; nodes pubescent. 
Leaves oblong, conspicuously cuspidate, reaching a length of 1 ft. or 
more and a breadth of 5-6 in., moderately firm, glabrous, rounded at 
the base, variegated with pinnate streaks of white; lower sheaths } ft. 
or more long ; free thickened apex of petiole ł-1 in. long. Inflorescence 
copiously panicled ; sheaths cylindrical, glabrous, 1} in. long. Flowers 
in pairs, one on a long pedicel. Ovary densely silky. Sepals oblong- 
lanceolate, 4 in. long. Staminodia obovate, deep purple or yellow, 
twice as long as the calyx. Fruit globose, often 3-seeded.— Maranta 
cuspidata, Rosc. Scit. t. 31; Donax schweinfurthiana, Schumann in 
Engl. Jahrb. xv. 437; Arundastrun schweinfurthianum, Kuntze, Revis. 
Gen. 684. 
Uppe . Sierra Leone: Heddle’s Farm, Scott-Elliot, 3900! Duunia, 
in shady Hoat, P Scott-Elliot, 4820! Nienia, in woods. Scott-Elliot, 4902! Bagra 
River, Mann, 901! Ashanti: Assin-Yan-Coomassie, Cummins, 210! 239! Gold 
Coast: Basin of the River Volta; between Maikera and Dame, Krause! between 
