COL. GRANT—BOTANY ОЕ THE SPEKE AND GRANT EXPEDITION. 157 
_ unifloris, foliis brevioribus, flexuosis, glanduloso-seabris; ovario nudo, globoso ; perianthii 
segmentis lanceolatis. 
Folia 6-9 poll. longa, 3-6 lin. lata, crebre nervata. Pedunculus 2-3-pollicaris, deorsum nudus. Ova- 
rium maturum 5-6 lin. crassum. Perianthii segmenta 10-12 lin. longa. Squamæ basales persistentes 
foliorum arcte imbricatæ, pilosæ, 6-9 lin. latæ, tricuspidatæ. 
Hab. Boss Rock, 6° 8. lat., alt. 4000 feet, Col. Grant ! (Hypoxis no. 1, App. Speke's 
Journ. 649.) ; 
[This alpine-like bush was found in but опе locality, where а spring oozes from the “ Boss rock ” 
previously described. In general appearance it resembles a stunted and contorted palm. It is but 
6 feet high, much branched, with a trunk 6 inches in girth; this includes the scales of old petioles and 
a central vital part of solid wood no thicker than the quill of a goose. The main stem breaks with 
very little bending, being so dry and the fibre so rotten; a section of the upper branches is indistinctly 
triangular. The leaves are broadest at their centres; the ribs are very fine, parallel, and close together. 
The flowers, on the 28th and 29th Dec., were withered, but seemed purple.—J. А. G.] 
DIOSCOREACE. 
1. DIOSCOREA sativa, Linn. Sp. Plant. 1463; Hort. Cliff. i. 28, non Kunth.—Zelmia 
bulbifera, Kunth, Enum. РІ. v. 435. 
Hab. Unyoro groves, July 20, 1862, Col. Grant! (D. bulbifera, App. Speke’s Journ. 
650.) 
(А climber, without thorns; leaves alternate, with eleven ribs. Fruit three-cornered, the size and 
shape of a Brazil nut ; but it cuts like a raw potato, and shows germs of seed inside. The centre of each 
side has a bud-like process; and when the fruit is allowed to remain on the ground, roots are soon 
formed. We eat it in Uganda, and found it pleasant, like a boiled plantain in flavour.—J. A. G.] 
2. DIOSCOREA, not in flower. Perhaps a variety of the last. 
Hab. Uganda plantain-groves, July 1862, Col. Grant! (Dioscorea по. 1, App. Speke's 
Journ. 650.) 
(А round twisted stem, upon which there are very short, sharp, green thorns, no tendrils, neither is the 
plant milky. It climbs up the trunks of plantain-trees. Leaves opposite, glossy, with seven distinct 
reticulated ribs; not in flower or fruit during July. It is planted on heaps of earth, and trained up 
single poles. We eat its tubers in Kittara; it is as thick as the arm, and sometimes round. Called “ vee- 
azee koobba,” =the large tuber.—J. A. G.] 
ÅLISMACEÆ. 
1. SAGITTARIA OBTUSIFOLIA, Linn.; Kunth, Enum. РІ. iii. 158. Foliis longe petiolatis, 
obtusis, profunde sagittatis ; rachi florali simplici vel sæpissime ad basin ramis multis verti- 
cillatis przedita; floribus pedicellatis, in verticillos remotos multifloros dispositis; peri- 
anthii segmentis 6, obovatis, obtusis, 3 interioribus majoribus petaloideis deciduis ; stami- 
nibus circiter 6; ovariis 6-30, globosis, lateraliter compressis, maturis 3-locellatis.—A pp. 
Speke's Journ. 650. Alisma sagittifolia, Willd. Spec. Plant. ii. 277. Limnophytum ob- 
(ив ойт, Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. Ш. 248. Dipseudochorion sagittifolium, Buchen. Flora, 
1865, 245. Alisma Kotschyi, Hochst., in Kotschy's Pl. Nub. no. 169. 
Hab. In the Nile, 4° 55' N. lat., Feb. 22, 1863, Col. Grant! | 
А common Indian species, which we have also from Nubia, gathered by Petherick, and from Zambesi- 
land, gathered by Kirk. A large proportion of the flowers bear both stamens and pistils, so that it is a 
connecting-link between Sagittaria and Alisma. Buchenau has made it into a genus, on the ground of 
