406 AMARANTACE# (Cooke and Wright). | Hermbstedtia. 
in threes, the 2 lower spikes small, the central 2-6 in. long; bracts 
about 2 lin. long, ovate-lanceolate, hyaline, strongly keeled, very 
acute, persistent ; perianth 1} lin. long, white; segments oblong- 
lanceolate, 3-nerved, midrib reaching the apex, lateral nerves 
shorter ; staminodes slightly longer than the stamens, 2-fid at the 
tip into acute lobes; ripe capsules 2 lin. long, oblong-obovate, 
brown ; style very short, almost 0 ; stigmas 2, recurved, } lin. long ; 
seeds usually 2, lenticular, }-$ lin. in diam., black, smooth and 
polished. Lestiboudesia caffra, Meisn. in Hook. Lend. Journ. Bot. 
ii. (1843) 549. Pelianthus celosioides, E. Meyer ea Moquin, l.c. 
Eastern Recion: Natal; margins of woods near the Umlaas River, Avrauss, 
37! near Durban, Gerrard, 779! Drége! Mudd! Peddie! Inanda, Wood, 77! 
The type specimen of this is Krauss, 37, which has only 2 stigmas, as is also 
the case with the other specimens enumerated. Messrs. Baker & Clarke, in Dyer’s 
Fl. Trop. Africa, vi. i. 25, have united this with H. recurva, C. B. Clarke, but that 
plant is smaller, and has 3 stigmas. 
2. H. glauca (Moquin in DC. Prodr. xiii. ii. 247); erect, 
branched, 12-18 in. high; branches terete, finely striate, pale 
glaucous-green ; leaves }-1 in. long, $-3 lin. broad, sessile, distant, 
linear or linear-lanceolate, subfleshy, glaucous, glabrous; spikes 
-pedunculate, capituliform, globose, dense-flowered ; bracts 13 lin. 
long, ovate-lanceolate, hyaline, concave, strongly keeled ; perianth 
reaching 2 lin. long; segments ovate-oblong, mucronulate, 3-5- 
nerved on the back ; staminodes hyaline, broad, 2-fid at the apex 
into 2 triangular acute lobes, shorter than the stamens; anthers 
linear-oblong ; capsule globosely ovoid, circumscissile near the base ; 
style scarcely } lin. long; stigmas 3, nearly } lin. long, spreading ; 
seeds 3-5, less than } lin. in diam., lenticular, brown-black, shining. 
WesTERN Reaton: Little Namaqualand; by the Orange River near Verlept- 
pram, Drége! on the hills near Buffels River, 1600 ft., Schlechter, 11270! sandy 
and stony places near Spektakel, 800 ft., Bolus, Herb. Norm. Austr,-Afr. 685 ! 
Little Bushmanland ; Naroep, Schlechter ! 
3. H. laxiflora (Lopr. in Malpighia, xiv. 430) ; suffruticose, rigid ; 
branches elongate, slender, striate, glabrous ; leaves 3 in. long, } in. 
broad, petiolate, oblanceolate, oblong-lanceolate or spathulate, 
narrowed towards the base and decurrent into a short petiole, 
rounded or obtuse at the apex, upper leaves gradually smaller, 
sometimes submucronulate ; spikes few-flowered, 3-1} in. long, 
2 lin. wide, obtuse ; bracts 1 lin. long, 4 lin. broad, ovate-lanceolate, 
hyaline, persistent after the flowers have fallen, midrib produced 
into a mucro ; flowers distant in the lower part, close in the upper 
part of the inflorescence, straw-coloured ; perianth 2 lin. long ; 
segments oblong-lanceolate, acute, 3—5-nerved ; staminodes shorter 
than the anthers, 2-fid into lanceolate segments ; anthers } lin. long, 
oblong ; capsule ovoid, elongate, circumscissile below the middle ; 
style elongate, reaching nearly } lin. long; stigmas 3, exserted ; 
seeds 2 or 3, lenticular, } lin. in diam., smooth, black. Lopr. in 
Engl. Jahrb. xxx. 105. 
