Eriocaulon. | CLIV. ERIOCAULEA: (BROWN). + 251 
hairs at the apex. Stipes between the sepals and petals 4—3 lin. long. 
Petals unequal, ovate-lanceolate, acute, white, glandless, ciliate, the 
largest not more than }-} lin. long. Anthers blackish. Seeds $ lin. 
long, ellipsoid, white-reticulate.—Ruhland in Engl. Jahrb. xxvii. 82. 
Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone: in marshes at Kitchom, near the mouth of the 
River Searcies, Scott-Elliot, 4339! and without precise locality, Afzelius! Niger 
Territory : Nupe ; in swamps about Jeba, Barter, 1019! 
24. E. plumale, V. /. Br. Stemless. Leaves numerous, in a 
radical rosette, 3-4 in. long, }-} lin. broad, linear, tapering to a very 
fine point, 3-nerved, glabrous, Peduncles several to a plant, 3-6 in. 
long, terete, 5—6-ribbed, glabrous ; their sheaths #-1} in. long, acute, 
glabrous. Heads 2-3 lin. in diam., at first globose, afterwards elongating 
and becoming oblong, monecious, with the sexes intermixed, white, very 
woolly in appearance. Involucral-bracts about 1 lin. long and broad, 
elliptic or orbicular, very obtuse, glabrous, spreading. Flowering-bracts 
1} lin. long, ?# lin. broad, cuneate-obovate or rhomboid, suddenly 
narrowed to a very fine point, whitish, with a dark fuscous band across 
the broadest part, pubescent and ciliate, with very minute white hairs 
on the apical part. Receptacle glabrous. Female flowers sessile. Sepals 
2, free, equal, 3-1 lin. long, $-} lin. broad, subspathulate, falcately 
boat-shaped, with a broad thick spongy keel, obtuse, apiculate, entire or 
more o1 less toothed on the keel and sides at the top, fuscous, glabrous. 
Petals 3, longer than the sepals, unequal, #14 lin. long, $-3 lin, broad, 
linear-spathulate, obtuse, white, hairy above the middle within, with a 
very minute black gland near. the apex. Male flowers often abortive, 
sessile. Sepals 2, or rarely 3, filiform, 1 lin. long, fuscous at the apex, 
glabrous. Stipes between the sepals and petals as long as the sepals, 
flat. Petals 3, unequal, white, very hairy within, with a very minute 
black gland near the apex; dorsal petal twice as long as the others, 
1 lin. long, } lin. broad, projecting beyond the bracts like a little white 
plume. Anthers black. Seeds 4-4 lin. long, narrowly ellipsoid, apiculate 
at one end, brown, seen to be marked with longitudinal rows of short 
transverse papilla when highly magnified. 
Upper Guinea. Senegambia, Heudelot, 148! 
This species is well marked by the very different form of the sepals in the male 
and female flowers, and by the somewhat plumose appcarance of the ultimately 
oblong heads, due to the protruding odd petal of the male flowers. It is allied 
to the following species, but besides the differences noted thereunder, the much 
shorter, terete, 5—6-ribbed (not acutely angular) peduncles will at once distinguish it. 
25. E. senegalense, V. H. Br. Leaves numerous, in a dense 
rosette, spreading, 5--7 lin. long, }—3 lin. broad, linear, acuminate, 
glabrous. Peduncles | or few to a plant, 16-22 in. long, about 5 lin. 
thick, acutely 4-angled, glabrous. Heads 2-3 lin. in diam., whitish, 
mMonecious. Involucral-bracts 1 lin. long, #-} lin. broad, somewhat 
orbicular-obovate, very shortly cuspidate-acute, ochreous or straw- 
coloured, glabrous. Flowering-bracts {-1 lin. long, and as much in 
breadth, very broadly cuneate-obovate, shortly and very abruptly 
