156 COL. GRANT—BOTANY OF THE SPEKE AND GRANT EXPEDITION. 
ÅMARYLLIDACEÆ. 
1. CRINUM YUCCÆFLORUM, Salisb. Parad. t. 52.—0. Broussoneti, Herbert, Bot. Mag. 
t. 2121; var. yuccoides, Herb. Kunth, Enum. v. 568. 
Hab. Madi, Jan. 1863, Col. Grant! (App. Speke’s Journ. 649.) Also a plant of 
Guinea and Sierra Leone. 
[ Bulb 20 inches in its greatest circumference at the base, first found by the late Captain Speke at Madi, 
where I saw it in full flower, growing by the edge of a boggy burn in January. Тһе temperature was 
like our summer. Leaves 92 inches broad and 15 inches in length, thin, unspotted, finely striated, with 
short sheaths. Flower-stalk 20 to 24 inches long, growing out from one side of the leaves; the cross 
section the shape of a convex lens, smooth, solid, rather angular, with one side purple-tinted. Three 
bracts at the point where the five to six flower-stalks branch off the main stem; flowers drooping ; 
calyx of three outer and three inner sepals, white, with a line of pink-purple in their centres; anthers 
half-moon shape, black, with a white centre along their curve. The seed-vessel, if pressed, divides into 
three distinct cells and three smaller ones; and a longitudinal section shows numerous undeveloped 
seeds.—J. А. G.] 
[In October 1861, while encamped in Ugombeh, lat. 35° S., long. 32? E., alt. 3480 feet above the level 
of the sea, my servant, Ulede, who assisted me with the plants, brought a curiosity from the forest. Тһе 
nature of the country where it was found is arid, sandy, undulated, and covered with forest. Тһе 
whole of it was the colour of pea-straw, tough, and difficult to break or cut, thick but as light as an 
inflated ball of India-rubber. It stood about 2 feet in height, and consisted of a spherical centre, with 
arms spreading in every direction, each one averaging 8 to 10 inches in length; they were empty, 
hollow, broad and flat at their tips, where they were hooked, and split on their inner edge. There were 
not less than thirty of these arms, though the number was not counted, all of which radiated from the 
central sphere, which was, say, 2 inches in diameter. The centre golf-like ball was empty, hollow, and 
without any scar or mark of connexion. 
From its unportable form and other circumstances I could only make a sketch and notes upon it. 
Our followers informed us that the wind blew it about the forests, and children tossed it in the air. It 
was the only specimen seen; and I never could make any thing of my sketch till I luckily showed it to 
the late Dr. Welwitsch, who asked many questions, some rather irritating, such as, “ Was it the work of 
an insect?” However, to my great delight (for ten years had elapsed since I met with it), an idea 
struck the Doctor, who produced similar specimens dried while in the green state. His were not so 
large; but he pronounced mine to be “ probably an Amaryllidaceous plant between Buphane and 
Brunsvigia, detached fruit-bearing umbel” (July 8th, 1871). Тһе curiosity, therefore, which Ulede 
brought me is a marvellously large umbel of a bulbous undescribed plant, probably a Crinum ?— 
J. A. G] 
HYPOXIDACER. 
1. Hypoxis optusa, Burch. Bot. Reg. t. 159. 
Hab. East-coast range, Oct. 1860, Col. Grant! (Hypozxis no. 2, App. Speke’s 
Journ. 649.) 
Flowers smaller and anthers shorter than in the Cape specimens. 
[Found on the east-coast range of hills in flower, October. Bulbous plant, with yellow flowers,— 
У. А. G.] 
VELLOSIACEÆ. 
1. VELLOSIA SPEKEI, Baker, п. sp. Fruticosa; ramis deorsum basibus amplexicau- 
libus pilosis foliorum multorum delapsorum cinctis; foliis linearibus, acuminatis, rigide 
coriaceis, supra basin glabris; costa faciei inferioris et marginibus serratis; pedunculis 
