from Zanzibar, the only certainty is that the original 
specimens were received from Sir John Kirk who was for 
many years British Consul at Zanzibar. As Kirk, how- 
ever, is known to have travelled extensively we cannot 
be sure that the specimens came from Zanzibar or from 
any other place on the African mainland. In the Reich- 
enbach herbarium there is a specimen, referred to P. 
rufinula, which was collected by Kirk in the Comoro 
Islands. It is curious that with the exception of a small 
portion of an inflorescence received from J. 'T. Last, no 
specimens belonging to the same group as either of the 
two species have since been collected anywhere near 
Zanzibar, the nearest localities being in the Livingstone 
Mountains near Lake Nyasa where P. tessellata occurs. 
Polystachya modesta Reichenbach filius in Flora 50 
(1867) 114. 
Polystachya rigidula Reichenbach filius ].c. 117. 
Polystachya_ shirensis Reichenbach filius Otia Bot. 
Hamburg. (1881) 112. 
Polystachya similis Reichenbach filius l.ec. 112. 
From an examination of the type specimens of the four 
species cited above I can discover no differences of any 
consequence. The species is evidently allied to P. tessel- 
lata Lindl. from which it may be distinguished by the 
less robust habit, the narrower leaves, the smaller flowers 
and the lip which has shorter and more obtuse lateral 
lobes, a thick and more or less bullate middle lobe and 
no keel or at most a slight thickening at the very base. 
Florally the species also resembles P. golungensis Reichb. 
f., but that species has thick fleshy V-shaped leaves and 
a pronounced hair-cushion at the base of the lip. It is 
probable that P. Aindtiana De Wildem. (in Ann. Mus. 
Congo, ser. 5, 1 (1908) 21) represents a very large form or 
specimen of P. modesta, there being no floral differences. 
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