Hypolytrum. | CLYI. CYPERACEE (CLARKE). 489 
Stem (i.e. scape) .axillary, 8-12 in. long, slender, without any nodes, 
minutely scabrid at the top. Corymb 1-2 in. in diam., of 8-16 spikes; 
lowest bract hardly } in. long, linear. Spikes } in. long, ovoid or sub- 
globose. Bract to the spikelet obovate, obtuse, scarious-white. Glumes 
tothe 2 male flowers as long as the bract, keeled, subconnate at the 
base on the anticous side of the spike, free and standing apart on the 
posticous side ; glumes to the sterile flower smaller on the posticous side 
of the nut. Style 2-fid. Nut obovoid, flattened, with 8-9 longitudinal 
aid crowned by the ovoid smooth beak (style-base) overtopping the 
ract. 
Upper Guinea. Senegambia: Rio Nunez, Heudelot, 747! 
_ 6. HL. longiscaposum, (. B. Clarke. Rhizome horizontal, } in. in 
diam. Leaves all basal, up to 20-30 by 3 in. 3-nerved. Stem (ie. 
scape) lateral, 20-28 in. long, stout, trigonous, without nodes. Corymb 
4—6 in. in diam., depressed, subumbellate from the numerous approxi- 
mate branches springing horizontally, of 40-100 spikes; lowest bract 
1-2 in. long, not leaf-like, lanceolate-linear, somewhat coloured. Spikes 
$~¢ in. long, in flower ellipsoid, in fruit globose, bright brown. Bract 
to the spikelet 51, in. long, ovate, obtuse. Glumes to the 2 lowest male 
flowers ;1, in. long, keeled, distinct. Nut obovoid, flattened, smooth ; 
the beak spongy, straw-coloured, obovoid, broader than the nut, 
exserted above the bract. 
Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone: near Regent, Scott-Elliot, 4014! by streams 
in Talla Hill Plateau, north of Kundita, 3500 ft., Scott-Elliot, 5050! 
23. MAPANTA, Aubl.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen, Pl. ili. 1055. 
Spikelets with several empty glumes between the 2 lowest male flowers 
and the terminal nut. Style 3-fid or 2-fid.—Spikes sessile in 1 head 
on the scapes; otherwise as Hypolytrum. 
Species 28, throughout the Tropics. 
In this genus, the presence of several empty glumes between the 2 low. st 
male flowers and the terminal female flower (a pistil only) renders it impossible to 
explain the spikelet as a single axillary flower. The interpretation of the spikelet of 
Hypolytrum must be the same as that of Mapania. Cf. Goebel in Ann, Jard, Bot. 
Buitenz. vii. 128 
Bracts small, shorter or hardly longer than the head. 
Peduncle long; spikes 40-60 in the head; style 2-fid 1. UM. scaberrima. 
Peduncle short; spikes 3-8 in the head; style 3-fid. 2. UW. africana. 
Bracts 3, whereof one ut least is leaf-like, much longer 
than the head, 
Leaves tapering at the base into a quasi-petiole at 
least } in. broad. 
Head simple. 
Head 3-1 in. in diam., of 25 spikes . : . 3 MM. ferruginea. 
Head 2 in. in diam., of 100 spikes. : . 5. M. superba. 
Head made up of 6 heads half-fused together . 4. UM, subcomposita. 
Va 
