Ascolepis. | CLVI, CYPERACEE (CLARKE), 477 
squamella.—C. B. Clarke in Durand & Schinz, Conspect. Fl. Afr. v. 652 ; 
Rendle in Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. ii. 131. 
Upper Guinea. Niger Territory: Nupe, in rice fields, Barter, 761! 
Gower Guinea. Angola: Huilla; in damp pastures around Lopollo and 
Monino, Welwitsch, 1678! 
This plant is exceedingly like the small species of Zipocarpha as L. microcephata. 
The distinct 3 spikelets in the head separate it completely from the preceding 
species with globose or hemispheric heads, Ridley has figured the squamella as 
of sect. Platylepis, ic. completely utricular, which is certainly not the case 
in Barter, 761, where the margins of the squamella are free to the base. 
Welwitsch 1678 (whence Ridley took his figures) must, I think, be the same species. 
as Barter 761; but the flowers are still more minnte and the margin of the 
squamella more difficult to see. 
8. A. capensis, Lidley in Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, Bot. ii. 164. 
Glabrous. Rhizome seen up to 2 in. long, slender, black, usually 0. 
Stems 8-20 in. long, densely tufted, slender. Leaves $—} the length 
of the stem, ;,—1 in. broad. Head of 3-1 (fused or nearly distinct) 
spikelets, white or straw-coloured ; bracts 3, spreading, similar to the 
leaves, from a short broad base, lowest 1-4 in. long. Spikelets 4-4 in. long, 
ovoid, dense. Glume oblong, shorter than the squamella. Squamella 
flattened from front to back, shaped as a watch-pocket, the margins 
connate on the posticous side nearly to the top, the beak from the 
anticous side .),—} in. or more long, very variable, also the beaks of the. 
marginal flowers often elongate, so that the heads are more or less 
rayed. Style much shorter than the nut; branches 2, scarcely exserted 
from the mouth of the pocket. Nut sessile, }-2 the length of the 
pocket, oblong-ellipsoid, compressed, smooth, black.—C. B. Clarke in 
Durand and Schinz, Conspect. Fl. Afr. v. 651 incl. var. 8 lacera, in 
Bull. Herb. Boiss. iv. Append. iii. 31, in Dyer, FI. Cap. vii. 266, and 
in Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, Bot. iv. 54; Engl. Hochgebirgsfl. Trop. 
Afr. 144; K. Schum. in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 127; Rendle in Cat. 
Afr. Pl. Welw. ii. 131. Platylepis capensis, Kunth, Enum. ti. 269 ; 
Boeck. in Linnea, xxxvii. 119, and in Flora, 1879, 567. 
Upper Guinea. Niger Territory: Nupe, Barter! 
Nile Land. British East Africa: Upper Nile, Petherick / Jur; Jur Ghattas, 
Schweinfurth, 1467! 1505! Jur Awet, Schweinfurth, 1565 ! 
Lower Guinea. Angola: Huilla; in spongy places near Lopollo and on the 
higher parts of Morro de Lopollo, Welwitsch, 1676! 1677! near Ferrao de Sola, 
Welwitsch, 16768! Serra @ Uiahoia, Welwitsch, 16778! Humpata and Huilla, 
Johnston ! Newton ! Ovamboland; Hépfaner, 81! 
Mozamb. Dist. (ierman East Africa : Lower Plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, 
Thomson! Portuguese Kast Africa: Namuli Mountains, Last! British Central 
Africa : Urungu ; Fwambo, Carson, 83! Nutt! Nyasaland; Shire Highlands, 
Buchanan, 27! Mount Zomba, 4000-6000 ft., Whyte ! Mount Malosa, 4000-6000 ft., 
Whyte! Mount Mlanji, Wiyte / between Lake Shirwa and Lake Chiuta, Cumning- 
ham, 4! and without precise locality, Buchanan, 994! 1457! Mashonaland and 
Matabeleland, Bryce! 
Also in South Afries. 
