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MILL. 776 Cyperaceve, of the West Coast of Africa in the Welwitsch Herbarium. By 
Henry №. RIDLEY, M.A., Oxon., F.L.S., Assistant Department of Botany, British 
Museum. 
(Plates XXII., ХХІІ.) 
Read February 7th, 1883. 
IN the collections made by Dr. F. Welwitsch in West Tropical Africa, chiefly in Lower 
Guinea, between the years 1853 and 1861, there are no less than 159 species of 
Cyperaceous plants, belonging to 16 genera. Of the genera thus represented, 11 are. 
distributed over the tropics of both hemispheres, viz. Cyperus, Kyllinga, Heleocharis, 
Fimbristylis, Scirpus, Fuirena, Hemicarpha, Lipocarpha, Rhynchospora, Remirea, and 
Schænus. Two occur besides only in America, viz. Dichromena and Ascolepis; and the 
remaining two are confined to Africa and the adjacent islands. 
The absence of the broad-leaved Cyperaceæ, such as Hypolytrum and Mapania, is to be 
noticed ; it is probably due to the want, for the most part, of the dense damp forests, 
such as occur further north in Upper Guinea. 
The genus Carex is also conspicuously absent; indeed Ше Carices seem to be entirely 
absent from West Africa, although they are well represented at the Cape and along 
the east coast. 
The genus Cyperus contains the largest number of species, viz. 71. Of these 39 are 
confined to Africa and the adjacent islands, 8 occur also in South America and the West 
Indies, and 10 are Asiatic species ; the remaining 14 are distributed, more or less abun- 
dantly, over the tropics of both hemispheres. Kyllinga, a typically African genus, is 
represented by 10 species, of which 5 are endemic; 2 occur also in South America, a 
variety of one of which having also been collected at the Philippines, and 3 are natives 
of India. 
Heleocharis, a genus of world-wide distribution, but most extensively developed in 
South America, supplies 4 species, 3 of which are common tropical and subtropical plants, 
while one is an undescribed species, with affinity to а South-American plant. Dichro- 
mena is represented by the only Old-world species which occurs also in South America, 
the genus being typically American. Of the genus Fimbristylis there are 23 species, 
6 belonging to the section Hufimbristylis. These are all common tropical plants. The 
remaining 17 belong to the section Oncostylis, 1% of which are endemic. One, F. bar- 
bata, occurs also abundantly in Asia, another is spread over the tropics of both hemi- 
spheres, and one, F. hispidula, Kth., abundant in Africa, is met with also in S. America, 
and has spread into Southern Europe. Scirpus, the most truly cosmopolitan genus of 
Cyperacez, is represented by 8 species, 2 of which are among the most widely spread of 
plants, viz. S. fluitans, L., and S. maritimus, 2 are natives also of South America and 
the West Indies, and 2 are Asiatic, the 2 other species being found also respectively 
in Madagascar and Natal. 
SECOND SERIES.—BOTANY, VOL. II. x 
