different appearance of the plant figured by Thouars (F'. 
Iles Austr. Afr. t. 86: 1822) the Réunion plant does not 
appear to differ essentially from those found elsewhere 
either in habit or in floral structure. 
Polystachya cultriformis (Thouars) Sprengel Syst. 
Veg. 8 (1826) 742. 
Polystachya appendiculata Kraenzlin in Notizbl. Bot. 
Gart. Berl. 3 (1908) 288, probably. 
Polystachya Lujae De Wildeman in Plant. Nov. Hort. 
Then. (1904) t. 18. 
Careful examination of the description of P. appendi- 
culata Kraenzl., the type specimen of which could not 
be found at Berlin, taken in conjunction with numerous 
specimens referred to P. cultriformis (Thou.) Spreng. in 
the Kew Herbarium, has led me to the conclusion that 
these two are probably conspecific. The only outstanding 
feature in the description of Kraenzlin’s species, namely, 
the appendix at the base of the dorsal sepal, has been 
found on a number of specimens from the Gabon, Ugan- 
da, and even Madagascar (Perrier de la Bathie 16062). 
This appendix, however, is developed to different extents, 
being sometimes over 1 mm. long while in other cases 
it is Just a small knob. I have been unable to correlate 
its presence or absence with any other of the variations 
of the widespread and variable P. cultriformis. P. Lujae 
De Wildem., though placed apart from P. cultriformis 
by Kraenzlin in his monograph, appears to be indistin- 
guishable from the latter, particularly the Mascarene 
Islands specimens. 
Polystachya gracilenta Kraenzlin in Engler Bot. 
Jahrb. 19 (1894) 251. 
Polystachya purpureo-alba Kraenzlin |.c. 43 (1909) 337. 
In spite of the alleged differences between the above 
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