Viscum.] LORANTiiACE.E (Sprague). 135 



■ 



Engler and Krause state that V. rigidum is allied to ]\ Menijhavthu, Engl. & 

 Schiiiz, a native of Portuguese East Africa and Rhodesia. They do not mention 

 \vhether the ben-y is sessile or pedicelled. 



20. V. minimum (Harv. in Harv. <fe Sond. Fl. Cap. ii. bSl) ; a 

 minute plant; stem consisting of a single internode about \ lin. 

 long, bearing at its apex a whorl of 3, or 2 opposite scale-leaves, and 

 a single inflorescence or one terminal and 3 or 2 axillary inflores- 

 cences j scale-leaves subdeltoid, -1 lin. long ; lateral scales ovate, 

 acute, much thickened on the back, -J lin, long ; bracteal cup 

 peduncled, usually boat-shaped, |-1 lin. long, 3-flowered, the terminal 

 one sometimes 3-Iobed and 4 -flowered ; female flower: pedicel \ lin. 

 long; receptacle | lin, long; petals deltoid, }-§^ lin. long; berry 

 pedicelled, globose, 3 lin. in diam., smooth, red, crowned by the 

 persistent petals ; pedicel stout, thickened upwards, |-1 lin. long. 

 Engl, & Krause in Ber, Beidsclt. But, Ges. xxvi. A, 52-i ; 2Iarloth, 

 FL S. Afi\ 168, t. 38, Jig. B. Aspidixia minima^ Van TiegJu in Bull, 

 Soc. Bot France, xliii. 192. 



■ Coast Regio^t: Uitenhage Div. ; near Port Elizabeth, on Euphorbia sp., 

 Kemsley \ on Euphovhia poly gona, Yioxw ^ Drege ; Albany Div. ; near Grahamstown, 

 on Euphorhia ^p,, MacOwanj 1229 ! and without precise locality, Mrs. Barber ^ 226 ! 



Harvey (I.e.) described the stem of F. minimuni as consisting of a single 

 iuternode, and this has been confirmed in the two plants examined by the writer. 

 Engler and Krause (l.c.)^ on the other hand, state that the primar}^ axis bears 

 2-3 closely crowded pairs of scale-leaves. As they do not mention the lateral 

 scales which occur at the base of the axillary peduncles, it seems possible that they 

 may have regarded them as belonging to the primary axis. 



Order CXX. SANTALACE-^. 



(By A. ^Y. Hill.) 



Flowers hermaphrodite or subdioecious, regular. PerianiJi simple, 

 green or corolline, sometimes fleshy, adnate to the base of the 

 ovary or the disc ; segments usually 4-5, valvate, glabrous or 

 with a tuft of hairs on the face. Stamens as many as the perianth- 

 segments, inserted at or below their base, antliere dehiscing 

 longitudinally. Disc epigynous or perigynous. Ovary inferior^ 

 1-celled; ovules 2-3, pendulous from the apex of a free-central 

 placenta ; style short or cylindrical ; stigma terminal, capitate or 

 2-3-lobed, Fruit indehiscent, dry or fleshy. Seed globose or 

 ovoid; testa obsolete; albumen copious; embryo central, oblique; 

 cotyledons usually subterete ; radicle superior. 



■ Herbs, shrubs or trees, often parasitic ; leaves usually alternate, entire, 

 exstipulate ; inflorescence axillary or terminal ; flowers minute, usually greenish. 



BiSTEiB. Species about 400 spread through the temperate and tropical regions 

 of both hemispheres. 



