456 PHYTOLACCACE (Hill). | Microtea. 
Katanart ReGion: Transvaal; near Pretoria, Rehmann, 4018! Kirk, 47! 
sandy places near Batsabelo, 5000 ft., Schlechter, 4058 ! in thickets near Potgieters 
Rust, 3800 ft., Bolus, 11010! 
Also in Tropical Africa. 
3. M. Burchellii (N. E. Br. in Kew Bulletin, 1909, 135) ; under- 
shrub, 8-10 in. high; stems much-branched, ascending ; leaves 
sparse, fasciculate, }-3 in. long, sessile, terete, linear, subacute, 
mucronate ; inflorescence spicate, 3-7 in. long; flowers +', in. in 
diam., fasciculate, sessile ; bracts ovate, persistent, shorter than the 
flowers ; bracteoles obtusely 3-lobed ; perianth-lobes 5, external 
smaller, suberect, incurved ; stamens 4—5, more or less alternating 
with the perianth-lobes, one (apparently always) opposite the 
external lobe ; filaments filiform, longer than the perianth ; anthers 
small, extrorse ; ovary ovoid, substipitate ; stigmas divaricating in 
pairs ; fruit subglobose, slightly compressed, longer than the perianth, 
with 4 main prominent and several shorter well-defined intermediate 
ribs. Lophiocarpus Burchellii, Hook. f. in Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. 
Pl. iii. 50; Ic. Pl. xv. 49, t. 1463, figs. 1-9. 
Katanart Recon: Griqualand West; at Griqua Town, Burchell, 1934! 
Bechuanaland ; Batlapin Territory, Holub ! 
4. M. gracilis (A. W. Hill in Kew Bulletin, 1910, 56); an 
annual, 34-9 in. high ; stems usually simple below and branching 
above ; leaves elliptic-linear, acute, mucronulate, subherbaceous, 
3-1} in. long, fasciculate, dense; inflorescence slender, spicate, 
somewhat lax, 24-6 in. long, the lower portion being barren ; bracts 
nearly equal in length to the perianth, triangular-ovate, acute, sub- 
entire or slightly 3-toothed ; perianth-lobes 5, } lin. long, unequal, 
broadly or narrowly elliptic, obtuse; stamens 4; filaments longer 
than the perianth ; ovary ovoid ; stigmas 2—4, erect, short, more or 
less united ; fruit globose, about 4 lin. in diam., with 4 main ribs 
slightly marked and a few indefinite and interrupted intermediate ribs. 
Katanart Recon: Transvaal ; Komati Poort, 1000 ft., Schlechter, 11806 ! 
II. PHYTOLACCA, Linn. 
Flowers hermaphrodite or diwcious. Perianth green or slightly 
coloured, 5-partite ; lobes equal, oblong, obtuse, spreading or reflexing 
at a late stage. Stamens 5-25, inserted at the base of the perianth, 
rudimentary in the female flowers ; filaments subulate, sometimes 
connate at the base; anthers oblong, incumbent. Ovary globose ; 
carpels 6-12, free or more or less connate ; styles as many as the 
carpels ; ovules solitary, basal, campylotropous. Fruit depressed- 
globose, fleshy ; carpels free or connate. Seeds reniform, compressed, 
beaked or obtuse at. the base; testa black, crustaceous, shining ; 
