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17. — A Revision of the South African Material of the Germs Cyphia, 

 Berg.— By E. P. Phillips, M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S., Assistant. 



The genus Cyphia was founded by Bergius on the species C. bulbosa, 

 of which a good figure is given in Burman's PI. Afric. t. 38, fig. 2. 

 Since then many species have been described and the genus mono- 

 graphed, the last important monograph being Sonder's in Harvey 

 and Sonder, " Flora Capensis," vol. iii. The key to the species in the 

 " Flora Capensis " and the descriptions of the species appeared to be 

 such as to warrant a revision of the material, and with this end in 

 view I undertook to examine the South African species. My thanks 

 are due to Mrs. F. Bolus, B.A., of the Bolus Herbarium, South 

 African College, Cape Town, and to Dr. S. Schonland, of the Albany 

 Museum, Grahamstown, who kindly allowed me to examine the species 

 in their respective collections. This, together with the material in the 

 South African Museum Herbarium, has formed the basis of the re- 

 vision. Owing to the difficulty of referring to all the literature, the 

 synonymy is necessarily incomplete ; the lack of types has not been so 

 serious an obstacle as most of Zeyher's and Ecklon and Zeyher's sj>eci- 

 mens are in our collection. 



The genus may be separated into two more or less distinct groups 

 on the habit of the plants, i. e. whether erect or twining, but this 

 character is not always constant as, e. g., C. assimilis may be either 

 erect or a twiner. Leaf characters, which proved useful in arranging 

 the species into groups, did not lend themselves to separating the 

 species, as, for example, in the natural group of closely allied species 

 triphylla, digitata, volubilis, and sylvatica. The hairiness or otherwise 

 of the anthers, which Sonder used to separate assimilis from persici- 

 folia, is an unstable character, as sometimes in the same plant the 

 anthers may be either glabrous or hairy. 



The species of Cyphia are well distributed along the coastal belt from 

 Clanwilliam to Natal. Some of the species do not extend beyond 



