Dissotis. | LVII. MELASTOMACEE (HOOKER). 453 
form.) Right bank of Luabo, and Moramballa, alt. 3500 ft., Kirk! (A small form, 
with glabrous calyx-tube. ) 
Closely allied to D. plumosa, but the leaves are not so large, nor nearly so broad, 
the petioles are shorter in comparison., and the calyx has shorter-stalked bristles. 
15. D. canescens, Hook.f. Hoary with stellate pubescence. Stem 
2-8 ft., purple, stout, erect, 4-angled, sparingly branched, branches 
erect; nodes with few small erect bristles. Leaves 2-3 in. by 4-4 in., 
subsessile, coriaceous, linear or linear-oblong, obtuse, quite entire, 
3-nerved, dark green above with scattered stellate hairs, whitish and 
densely puberulous beneath. Flowers 1-1} in. in diameter, rose- 
purple, in subterminal leafy panicles with erect branches, crowded, 
shortly pedicelled; bracts equalling the calyx-tube, ovate, obtuse, 
membranous, purple. Calyx-tube 1 in., hemispherical, covered with 
mealy or stellate pubescence, as are the 5 triangular-lanceolate acute 
persistent lobes, which equal the tube. Petals broadly obovate, ciliate 
at the tip. Anthers of long stamens } in., equalling the connective, 
appendage clavate, notched; connective of short stamens not produced, 
2-tubercled at the base. Capsule free, except at the angles, 5-valved 
to the base, crown hoary.—Argyrella incana, Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. 
sér, 3, xiii. 300. Osbechia canescens, E. Mey. mss.; Graham in Bot. 
Mag. t. 3790. 0. Umluasiana, Hochst. Pl. Krauss. ; Harv. et Sond. Fl. 
Cap. ii, 518, 
Nile Land. Moist places in the Ukidi forest, Grant! 
Also a native of Natal. In cultivated specimens the leaves are 1 in. broad, and cor- 
date at the base. 
16. D. Irvingiana, Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 5149. Annual. Hirsute 
with copious pale spreading bristly hairs. Stem 1-3 ft., stout, erect, 
obtusely(branches acutely) 4-angled, copiously 3-chotomously branched; 
nodes with spreading bristles } in. long. Leaves 2-34 in. by }-3 in., 
linear-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, acute, 3-nerved, sparsely substri- 
gosely hairy on both surfaces, margin cartilaginous, obscurely serrate ; 
petiole very short, setose. Flowers copious, 1—1} in. in diameter, soli- 
tary or 2-5 in short axillary and terminal cymes; bracts 2, minute, 
orbicular, membranous, ciliate, deciduous. Calyx-tube } in., subglo- 
bose, with a short cylindric apex, covered with scales crowned with 
stellately arranged or very long crinite bristles; lobes 5, half as long 
as the tube, ovate, subacute, very long-ciliate, deciduous. Petals obo- 
vate, red-purple. Anthers of long stamens } in., shorter than the 
connective, appendage short, 2-lobed ; connective of the smaller sta- 
mens very short, 2-tubercled. Capsule nearly free from the 10-ribbed 
calyx-tube, 5-valved at the tip, which is crowned with white bristles. 
Upper Guinea. Abbeokuta, Irving! Nupe, on the Niger, in wet places, Barter ! 
Nile Land. Abyssinia, Tigre, Schimper! (n. 1437, coll. 1863-8.) 
17. D. Melleri, Hook. f. A small shrub; branches woody, ob- 
scurely 4-gonous, deeply furrowed when dry; nodes much swollen, 
Upper bristly. Leaves (the few remaining on the specimen) 1-1} in., 
very rigidly coriaceous, shortly petioled, elliptic-lanceolate, subacute, 
