Xyris. | CXLII. XYRIDEZ (BROWN). 23 
apiculate, light chestnut-brown, the inner with a stout usually dark green 
keel; nerves very indistinct, very slender and irregular. Lateral sepals 
1}-2 lin. long, 4} lin. broad, falcate-lanceolate, obtuse, boat-shaped, 
brown along the back, fading to light yellowish-brown on the sides; 
keel winged, minutely ciliolate along the middle part only, not produced 
at the apex. Flowers not seen. Capsule obovoid, trigonous. 
Upper Guinea. Niger Territory: Nupe, Barter ! 
Allied to X. angularis, N. E. Br., but differing in its compressed (not acutely 
angled) peduncles, the absence of a dorsal area on the bracts, and other characters, 
28. KX. batokana, V. H. Br. Tufted on a stout rootstock, 
emitting thick roots. Leaves 4—8 in. (or more ?) long, 3-14 lin. broad, 
linear, very acute, rigid, striate, often twisted, glabrous. Peduncular- 
sheath 24-4 in. long, with a rigid acute point about 3 lin. long, glabrous. 
Peduncle 14-2 ft. long, about 3 lin. thick, subterete, very smooth and 
slightly shining, not striate, glabrous; pith not hollow at the centre. 
Spike 4—5 lin. long, 3-34 in. thick, ellipsoid or subglobose, about 30- 
flowered. Bracts 13-21 lin. long, 14-1} lin. broad, elliptic or elliptic- 
oblong, very obtuse, neither apiculate nor keeled, 5-7-nerved, chestnut- 
brown, with an indistinct slightly paler lanceolate dorsal area, glabrous, 
not ciliolate; nerves reticulated at their apex. Lateral sepals 2 lin. 
long, nearly $ lin. broad, linear-falcate, acutely keeled, brown, paler 
towards the margins; keel very distinctly ciliate from a little above the 
base to the minutely apiculate apex. Corolla yellow; tube about 2 lin. 
long ; lobes 2 lin. long, 1 lin. broad, cuneate-obovate, denticulate. Arms 
of the staminodes small, bearing a tuft of comparatively few (20-25) 
hairs. Anthers oblong. 
Mozamb. Dist. British Cextral Africa: Northern Rhodesia ; Batoka High- 
lands, Kirk ! 
This mucb resembles X. nitida, Nilss., but the very smooth peduncles and absence 
of cilia on the bracts readily distinguish it. 
29. K. congensis, Bittner in Verhandl. Bot. Ver. Brandenb. xxxi. 
71. Leaves up to 1 ft. long, 1—2 lin. broad, linear, slightly scabrous, 
striate, with dark brown sheaths. Peduncle 2-3 times as long as the 
leaves, compressed, smooth. Spike 5 lin. long, 24 lin. thick, about 20- 
flowered. Bracts 2} lin. long, broadly obovate, rounded at the apex, 
ciliolate, chestnut-brown with a greyish dorsal area. Lateral sepals 
shorter than the bracts, boat-shaped, keeled, hyaline, pale fuscous, with 
a golden hue, the apex and keel darker ; keel narrowly winged, ciliate. 
Corolla-lobes 14 lin. long, ? lin. broad, truncate, irregularly and shortly 
denticulate, yellow.—Nilss. in Svensk. Vet. Akad. Handl. xxiv. no. 14, 
29; Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afr. v. 420, and Etudes Fl. Congo, 
1. 268, 
South Central. Congo Free State:-on the left bank of the River Congo, 
between Lukolela and Equatorville, Bittner, 583. 
I have not seen this, but possibly X. xitida, Nilss., may be the same plant. 
