158 ERICACEH (Guthrie & Bolus), | rica, 
Section XV. DESMIA. (Sp. 208-210.) 
208. E. conferta (Andr. Col. Heaths, t. 83); erect, entirely 
glabrous, 1-2 ft. high; branches slender, 4-sulcate from the 
long prominent deeurrent leaf-cushions; leaves 4-nate, spread- 
ing or reflexed, crowded or distant, linear, acuminate, sulcate, 
aristate, 6-11 lin. long; flowers capitate, corolline; heads 6-20- 
flowered ; pedicels about 1 lin. long ; bracts approximate, lanceolate, 
a little longer than the sepals; sepals lanceolate, acute, about 2 lin. 
long, coloured; corolla subglobose-urceolate, constricted at the 
throat, white (Andrews), 14-12 lin. long ; segments short, broad, 
rounded, revolute, 1—1 as long as the tube; anthers exserted or sub- 
exserted, narrow-elliptical, subobtuse, acute at the base, smooth, 
pale brown, about # lin. long, muticous; pore # as long as the cell; 
seeds foveolate, the pits oblong. Heathery, t. 59; Lodd. Bot. Cab. 
t. 1335 ; Benth. in DC. Prodr. vii. 615. 
Sour Arrica: without locality, Masson ! and cultivated specimens ! 
Coasr Rucion: Riversdale Div.; alpine shady places, near the Kaffer- 
kuils River, scarce, Niven, 104! and at Riet Kuil, Niven, 104! 
209. E. polifolia (Salisb, ex Benth. in DC. Prodr. vii. 615) ; 
weakly diffuse and probably trailing amongst other shrubs or in long 
grass, or stouter and erect; branches up to 12 in. long, slender, 
pale, the younger furrowed by the deeurrent leaf-cushions, distantly 
leafy with internodes 1—1 in. long, ultimate flowering branches 
sometimes pedunculoid, with leaves reduced to small (3-nate) 
bracts ; leaves 3-nate, spreading or recurved, linear, acute, aristate, 
flattish, sulcate, 6-11 lin. long, mostly 3 lin. in width, but sometimes 
reaching 1} lin.; flowers subcorolline, in 3~—6-flowered umbels ; 
pedicels 1—2 lin. long; bracts all approximate, or 1 remote, basal, 
ovate, acuminate, about 2 lin. long, the lower very caducous; 
sepals ovate, cuspidate, acuminate, or aristate, often gland-ciliate, 
13-2 lin. long; corolla broad-urceolate, slightly contracted at the 
throat, 23-22 lin. long; segments broadly rounded, spreading or 
recurved, about 3 lin, long; filaments narrow, or broader than the 
anther (in front view); anthers exserted, narrow-elliptical, dark- 
brown, scaberulous, about lin. long; pore 2 as long as the cell, 
Benth. in DO. Prodr. vii. 615. E. caduca, Thunb.? Prodr. 71; 
Flor. Cap. ed. Schult. 356; Rach in Linnea, xxvi. 769. E. 
cuspidata, Klotzsch ex Benth. l.c. 615. E. aqualis, Benth., l.c. 
615. 
Var. 8, angustata (Bolus); sepals lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, tapering 
gradually to the aristate apex. 
SoutH Arrica: without locality, Masson ! 
Coast ReGion: Var. 6, Swellendam Div. ; trailing slender plant, watery 
places among long grass, alpine situations near Swellendam, Niven, 232! Voor- 
mans Bosch, Zeyher, 3247! Langeberg Range, near Zuurbraak, 3000 ft., 
Schlechter, 2046! 5673! Galpin, 3532! 
Masson’s specimens, being the earliest known, were doubtless Salisbury’s 
type. The sepals in it are somewhat differently shaped from most of the others 
