Mesanthemum.] CLIV. ERIOCAULEZ (BROWN). 261° 
tube within. Stamens 6; anthers white.—Durand & Schinz, Conspect. 
Fl. Afr. v. 504, and Etudes Fl. Congo, i. 277 ; Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 133 ; 
N. E. Br. in Dyer, Fl. Cap. vii. 58. Eriocaulon radicans, Benth. in 
Hook. Niger Fl. 547; Steud. Syn. Pl. Glum. ii. 273. EZ. giganteum, 
Afzel. ex Koernicke in Linnea, xxvii. 573. E. guineense, Steud. Syn. 
Pl. Glum. ii. 273. 
Upper Guinea. Senegal: River Senegal, Perrottet, 808. Sierra Leone : 
Bagru River, in wet ground, Mann, 899! in a small stream near Regent, Scott- 
Elliot, 3994! Peninsula of Sierra Leone, Afzelius! and without precise locality, 
Hart! Smeathman! Don! Liberia: Grand Bassa, Ansell! Lagos: in a swamp, 
Barter, 20211! Lagos Island, Burter, 20219! Yoruba, Milson! Niger Delta: 
Bonny, in open savannah, very common, Kalbreyer, 245! Fernando Po and vicinity, 
Milne! Old Calabar, Rodd! 
Lower Guinea. Gaboon: Gaboon River, Jardin! French Congo: Loango; 
in a swamp near Ponta Negra, Soyaux, 104! Congo, Smith! Angola, Curror ! 
South Central. Congo Free State: Lukolela, Bittner (ex Durand & 
Schinz). 
The female flowers of this plant are somewhat variable ; in some specimens the 
sepals are only about 4 as long as the corolla, in others about half as long, whilst in 
Kalbreyer’s 245 they are 2 as long ; in most examples they are simply denticulate 
at the apex, but in others they are distinctly ciliate, these two extremes, however, 
are connected by forms in which the ciliation is represented by one or two hairs 
only. But I do not consider these differences of specific or even varietal importance 
in the case of this plant, for in all other characters the plant is fairly uniform. : 
This species was unfortunately included in the Flora Capensis before I had dis- 
covered that all Currer’s plants (which are labelled “South of the Tropic”) were 
collected in Angola, 
2. M. prescottianum, Koernicke in Mart. Fl. Bras. iii. i. 472, t. 
60, fig. 1. Leaves 34-7 in. long, 2-3 lin. broad, linear or lanceolate- 
linear, acute, more or less folded longitudinally, pilose or glabrous below. 
Peduncles 9-144 in. long, thinly pilose; their sheaths 3-3} in. long, 
thinly pilose. Heads about ? in. in diam. Involucre campanulate, 
with long radiating inner bracts, light ochraceous or whitish ; outer 
bracts 2-2} lin. long, 14-1} lin. broad, ovate, obtusely pointed, pubes- 
cent; inner 5-6 lin. long, 14 lin. broad, narrowly oblong, obtuse, 
glabrous or very slightly pubescent. Receptacle flat, covered with long 
soft whitish hairs. Flowering-bracts about 2 lin. long, with a very fine 
capillary stalk and a fusiform acute head, glabrous, whitish. Female 
flowers sessile or subsessile. Sepals nearly as long as the corolla, 1} lin. 
long, } lin. broad, linear-oblong, acute and sometimes denticulate at the 
apex, concave, glabrous, hyaline, white. No stipes between the sepals 
and petals. Petals 14-1} lin. long, united into a cylindric tube above, 
free below, ciliate at the apex, glabrous outside, with a few long hairs 
inside, and having 3 linear glands in the upper part within the tube. 
Male flowers pedicellate. Sepals longer than the corolla, 14-1} lin. 
long, 4-1 lin. broad, lanceolate, acute and subdenticulate at the apex, 
whitish, glabrous. Stipes between the sepals and corolla 4 lin. long. 
Corolla funnel-shaped, truncate. about 1 lin. long, densely ciliate at the 
apex, glabrous outside and inside, with three long linear glands inserted 
