262 CLIV. ERIOCAULEZ (BROWN). [ Mesanthenum. 
at about the middle inside. Stamens 6; anthers brownish.— Durand 
& Schinz, Conspect. Fl. Afr. v. 504. Hriocaulon prescottianum, Bongard 
in Mém. Acad. St. Pétersb. 1831, i. 635. 
Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, without indication of the collector ! 
Bongard states that this plant is a native of Rio de Janeiro, but upon what 
authority does not appear. He described it from a specimen in the herbarium of 
Prescott, which was received from Lindley. The Kew example (also received from 
Lindley), is labelled “Sierra Leone,” which is much more likely to be the right 
habitat than Brazil, since the other species of Mesanthemum are all from Tropical 
Africa and Madagascar. However, as the plant appears not to have been collected 
again, the locality requires confirmation. 
3. PASPALANTHUS, Mart.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 1022. 
Sepals 2-3, free or rarely more or less connate. Petals 2-3 ; those 
of the female flowers free, or connate at the middle or upper part and 
free below ; those of the male flowers connate into a campanulate or 
funnel-shaped tube, which is subtruncate or shortly (rarely deeply) 
bifid or trifid at the apex. Stamens 2 or 3, of the same number as the 
petals and opposite to them, free or adhering to the corolla-tube. 
Ovary 2—3-celled ; style divided above into 2-3 simple or bifid, filiform, 
stigmatic branches, with 2—3 other branches or appendages alternating 
with them, or arising from the style below them.—Marsh, bog, aquatic 
or terrestrial, perennial or annual herbs, stemless or with simple or 
branched leafy stems. Leaves linear or subulate. Peduncles usually 
one-headed, rarely several-headed, in a few species shorter than the 
leaves. Flowering-bracts oblong or obovate, flattish or concave. Other 
characters as for the Order. 
A large genus of between 200 and 300 species, of which about 4 oceur in Africa, 
the rest in Tropical America. 
Peduncles all central. 
Plant very small, 3-1 in. high ; heads 3-3 lin. in 
diam. . : : : : i ; .1. P. Welwitschii. 
Plant 2-9 in. high ; heads 2-3 lin. in diam . . 2. P. Wahlbergii. 
Peduncles all lateral from the axils of the older 
leaves ; plant cushion-like : : : . 8. P. pulvinatus. 
1. P. Welwitschii, Rendle in Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. ii. 102. A 
minute, tufted, stemless plant 3-1 in. high. Leaves numerous, 3-5 
lin. long, 4} lin. broad, linear-subulate, acute, rather rigid, glabrous. 
Peduncles numerous, -entral, 4-1 in. long, filiform or almost capillary, 
scantily clothed with rather long gland-tipped hairs; their sheaths 
3-5 lin. long, with a tuft of white hairs at the base, very oblique at 
the mouth, ending in a leaf-like point about 14 lin. long. Heads very 
small, }-} lin. in diam., campanulate, becoming subhemispherical in 
fruit, monecious, few-flowered, with 4-5 female flowers surrounding 
2 males. Involucral-bracts exceeding the disk, 4-3 lin. long, } In. 
broad, lanceolate or ovate, subacute, glabrous, thin, whitish, shining. 
Flowering-bracts rather shorter and narrower than the involueral- 
bracts, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, subacute, glabrous, whitisD. 
