Nesea.} LVIII. LYTHRACEE (HIERN). 475 
Leaves linear or lanceolate, narrowed at base, usually acute at apex. 
4-{ in. long, scaly or glabrous, opposite, patent, 1-nerved. Peduncles 
nearly as long as leaves, glabrous or with patent bristles. Capitula 
solitary, bearing from 83 to many flowers, surrounded at base by 2 im- 
bricated broadly cordate acuminate bracts; bracteoles linear-oblong, 
ciliate, at least near apex, 8-12-nerved. Calyx with 4-6 short del- 
toid lobes and as many longer erect subulate ciliate cornua. Petals 
4-6, lilac. Stamens as many or twice as many as lobes of calyx.—N. 
humilis, K1. : 
Upper Guinea. Senegal, Heudelot! fl. Oct. and Nov. Ingram! 
Nile Land. Abyssinia, Q.-Dillon! 
Lower Guinea. Angola, Mossamedes, fl. September, Dr. Welwitsch ! 
Mozamb. Distr. Mozambique, Peters! 
Occurs algo in Madagascar. 
Grows in wet gravelly places. 
ll. N. cordata, Hiern. Erect, annual, branched, quadrangular 
above, scabrous or subglabrous, 24-9 in. long. Leaves ovate-lanceo- 
late or lanceolate, cordate at base, opposite, sessile, acute, 4-4 in. long, 
asperulous. Peduncles usually rather shorter than the leaves, subgla- 
tous. Capitula numerous, solitary, about 5-flowered, surrounded at 
base by 2 imbricated broadly ks acuminate cymbiform bracts ; 
bracteoles linear acute, ciliate. Flowers subsessile, small. Calyx 
‘ampanulate, with 8-12 ribs and 4-6 deltoid lobes and as many longer 
frect ciliate cornua. Petals 4-6, rose-coloured, longer than calyx- 
lobes, shorter than the cornua, caducous or wanting. Stamens as many 
or twice as many as lobes of calyx, exserted. Ovary sessile. 
Upper Guinea. Niger, Barter! 
Nile Land. Madi, Speke and Grant! (N. erecta, S. & G. Journ. App.) } 
_ Lower Guinea. Angola, Pungo Andongo, 2400-3800 ft. alt. Fl. March, fr. early 
In April, Welwitsch ! 
rows in swamps. 
12. N. linearis, Hiern. Glabrous annual, about 2 ft. high, with 
frect stem, subterete at base, subquadrangular by decurrence of leaves 
and much branched above. Leaves linear, acute, 1-veined, opposite, 
harrowly decurrent, 1-3 in. long. Capitula large, terminal on ends of 
tanches, thick and many-flowered, surrounded at base by several im- 
bricated bracts, immediately below which are a pair of linear leaves. 
Bracts reniform, much acuminate, venose, with some clusters of flowers 
Interspersed. Flowers in subsessile clusters and subsessile in the 
Cluster, each with a bracteole partly enclosing it ; bracteoles oblong, 
auricled and acuminate at the apex, in fact nearly the obverse of the 
racts On a smaller scale, folded round the flowers in a conduphiease 
winner, other smaller bracteoles interspersed (abortive flowers 2). 
lowers pentamerous, rarely tetramerous; in the former case, calyx 
“ampanulate, membranous, 10-nerved, with 5 deltoid acute lobes in- 
; ing inwards, and as many longer cornua; cornua erect or ova 
first outwards and then upwards, simple, or slightly divided irregularly 
upper part. Petals 5, narrowly obovate, caducous, nearly as long 
4s the tube of the calyx, purple (?), or wanting. Stamens 10, inserted 
