170 CL, AROIDEA (BROWN). [ Vephthytis. 
nipple-like. Ovule solitary, basal, erect, anatropous. Anthers sessile, 
crowded, cuneate-oblong, truncate, 2-celled; cells separated by a thick 
connective, opening by apical pores. Berries obovoid or ellipsoid, 1-seeded. 
Seed ellipsoid or obovoid erect, testa very thin; albumen copious; embryo 
very smal], seated at the base of the albumen.—Herbs with a stout creep- 
ing rhizome. Leaves few, with long erect petioles, sagittate or hastate, 
reticulately veined. Peduncles 1 or 2, from the apex of the rhizome, 
about as long as the petioles, erect. Spathe green.—Oligogynium, Engl. 
Jahrb. iv. 64, xv. 452; Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. ii. iii. 129. 
Species 4, endemic. 
Engler, in his Bot. Jahrb. xv. 451, has correctly pointed out that the description 
I gave in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1881, xv. 790, of the position of the ovules of 
Nephthytis, is erroneous. My original sketch of the ovary of N. liberica, which I 
now find to be the same as WN. Afzelii, Schott, represents the ovule pendulous from 
near the apex of the ovary, as described, but whether this drawing truly represents 
an abnormal ovary, or is the result of an error of observation on my part, | am unable 
to say, but I suspect the latter. For it is quite certain that the normal position of 
the ovule in Nephthytis is erect from the base of the ovary, since I have never found 
another ovary with a pendulous ovule. Schott, who founded the genus Nephthytis 
upon a fruiting specimen of N. Afzelii, apparently fell into the same error with 
regard to the position of the seed of the plant he examined, since I find the ovule of 
NN, Afzelii to be basal or sub-basal and erect, and there is not the slightest reason for 
maintaining Oligogynium, Engl., as in any way distinct from Nephthytis. 
Since the above was written, Engler (in Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenfam, Nachtr. 
zu ii—iv. 60) has expressed the same opinion. 
Leaves very much constricted above the basal-lobes, 
sagittately 3-lobed; spadix subsessile or with a 
stipes not more than 1 lin, long i : . 
Leaves slightly or not at all constricted above the basal 
lobes. 
Spadix stipitate ; stigma small on a short nipple-like 
style . : é . : : : 2. N. Poissoni. 
Spadix sessile ; stigma large, discoid, sessile . . 3. N. Afzelit. 
1. N. constricta, V. #. Br. in Gard. Chron. 1881, xv. 790. 
Rhizome creeping, about } in. thick. Leaves 2-3 at the apex of the 
rhizome, erect, glabrous; petiole 1-2 ft. long, 1-2 lin. thick; blade 
sagittate, 3-lobed or very much constricted above the basal lobes ; front 
lobe 4—7 in. long, 13-3} in. broad, oblong or ovate-oblong, acuminate ; 
basal lobes 6-8} in. long, 13-34 in. broad, obliquely lanceolate or 
oblong-lanceolate, acuminate into a long point; nerves of the basal 
lobes denuded for 5-10 lin. in the narrow parabolic sinus. Peduncle 
43-15 in. long, rather slender, glabrous. Spathe 14-2 in. long, oblong, 
subulate-acuminate, decurrent on the peduncle for 5-6 lin. at the base, 
expanded, with revolute margins, widely spreading, green. Spadix 
subsessile or with a stipes not more than 1 lin. long, 3-1 in. long, about 
2 lin. thick. Ovary globose; style short, nipple-like, hardened in the 
dried state; stigma very small.— Oligogynum constrictum, Engl. Jahrb. 
xv. 453; Durand & Schinz, Consp. FI. Afr. v. 476. 
Upper Guinea. Cameroons: Rio del Rey, Johnston! Batanga, Braun (ex 
Engler) ; and without precise locality, Bucholz, 93! Fernando Po, Mann, 106! 
The stigma is not broadly discoid as stated by Engler in Engl. Jahrb. xv. 452. 
1. WN. constricta. 
