488 CLVI, CYPERACEE (CLARKE). | Hypolytrum. 
with 15-25 spikes; rhachis hairy or scabrid ; bracts 2 by } in., narrowly 
lanceolate, not caudate. Spikes in flower } in. long, ellipsoid, brown. 
South Central. Congo Free State, Dewevre, 746! 1061 bis ! 
3. H. lancifolium, (. B. Clarke. Nearly glabrous. Stolons 
clothed with elliptic brown scales, hardening into rhizomes. Stem 3-9 
ft. long, rather slender, with nodes (bearing long leaves) throughout its 
length. Stem-leaves 10 by 1} in., caudate-acuminate, 3-nerved, at the 
base as though petioled. Corymb 3 in. in diam., of 35 spikes ; lowest 
bract 8 in. long, like the leaves. Spikes in fruit } by } in., ovoid-lan- 
ceolate, brown, of 20 spikelets. Bract to spikelet z/o—} in. long, hardly 
acute. Glumes to the two lowest male flowers oblong, keeled, nearly 
as long as the bract. Sterile flower 0. Style 2-fid. Nut ellipsoid-lan- 
ceolate, flattened, brown, much longer than the bract, 7 -nerved in the 
lower half, the upper half being the style-base confluent with the nut. 
Upper Guinea. Cameroons: Efulen, Bates, 308! 
4. H. africanum, Nees in Linnea, ix. 288 name only. Nearly 
glabrous. Stolons 0. Stem-base woody, obliquely descending, densely 
clothed with smooth roots ;4, in. in diam., apparently standing in water. 
Basal leaves numerous, 16-30 by 4 in., 3-nerved. Stems (scapes) from 
the axils of the crowded leaves, 1-2 ft. long, leafless, rarely with a node 
(carrying a small leaf) near the top. Panicle corymbose, vary1ng from 
1 in. in diam. with 8 spikes to 45 in. in diam. with 80 spikes, some- 
times proliferous ; lowest bract “rarely so long as the inflorescence, 
linear with a dilated base (not like the leaves). Spikes 3 in. long, 
flower narrow-cylindric, in fruit ellipsoid, brown. Bract to the spikelet 
zz in. long, elliptic, obtuse. Glumes to the two lowest male flowers hardly 
shorter than the bract, boat-shaped, distinct. Sterile flower-glume 0. 
Nut obovoid, flattened, longitudinally ribbed, crowned by @ smooth 
ovoid beak (style-base) shorter than the nut; but there are many small 
infertile nuts in which the beak is much larger than the nut (as 1s seen 
in several of the Indian polygamo-dicecious species).—Steud. Syn. Pl. 
Glum. ii. 132; Boeck. in Linnea, xxxvii. 125; C. B. Clarke in Durand 
& Schinz, Conspect. Fl. Afr. iii, 666; Durand & Schinz, Etudes Fi. 
Congo, i, 309. H. nemorum, Henriques in Bolet. Soc. Brot. v. 209, not 
of Spreng. Hypolytri sp. africana, Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. m. 
1055. 
Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone: Sangasanga, Scott-Elliot, 4415! Makonde, 
Scott-Elliot, 5686! and without precise locality, Smeathmann / Afzelius ! ie ; 
French Guinea: Sulimania ; near Erimakuna, Scott-Elliot, 5396! Niger to 
Onitsa, Barter, 1575! Cameioons: Bipinde, Zenker, 2052! by the River Lobe @ 
Batanga, Bates, 148 ! : 
Lower Guinea. Island of St. Thomas, Quintas, 12! and Fi. Afr. peri 
iota 127! Lower Congo: Kisantu, Gillet, 1075! and without precise locality» 
mith ! 
South Central. Congo Free State, Demeuse, 412! 
5. H. senegalense, (. B. Clarke. Glabrous. Rhizome horizonte 
woody, 4, in. in diam. Leaves all radical, 8-16 by 4 in., 5-nerver’ 
