300 



ASCLEPIADACE^ ELLIOTIAN.E. 



fully at the service of Dr. Scott until he completes the revision. 

 The students of fossil botany would be under still greater obliga- 

 tions to Dr. Scott if he would fully incorporate with the labours of 

 his late colleague the work of investigators on the Continent and 

 at home, so as to present to the readers of his memoirs a complete 

 view of the present knowledge of the structure of the plants of the 

 Carboniferous Period. 



Williamson was a member of many societies, and in 1883 

 received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Edinburgh. 

 He resigned the Chair of Botany at Owens College in 1892, and took 

 up his residence at Clapham, where he died on the 23rd of June last. 



William Carruthers. 



ASCLEPIADACE^ ELLIOTIAN^. 



By R. Schlechter. 



The following is an enumeration of the Asclepiads which were 

 coll'^cted by Mr. Scott Elliot during his recent expeditions in 

 Central Africa, especially to Mount Euwenzori, which I have 

 drawn up from his collection now in the British Museum. As 

 was to be expected, the collection proved to be a most interesting 

 one. Of about thirty-seven different species, seventeen are new, 

 that is to say, nearly fifty per cent., and include one new genus. 

 The range of distribution of the two genera (Jlossonema and 

 Marsdenia is much extended by the discovery of (ilussonema Klliotil 

 Schltr. and Marsdenia zainbesiaca Schltr. ; the former being the 

 only representative of the genus in the Southern Hemisphere, 

 while the latter genus was known only from Western Tropical 

 Africa (Angola), but not so far south as the Zambesi on the east 

 coast. 



Cryptolepis R. Br. 



There is no reason for separating the two genera Kctadiopsis 

 Bth. and Cryptolepis R. Br. The upright species of Ectadiupsis 

 I have considered sufficiently distinct in habit to keep them as a 

 separate section of Cnjptolepis, whereas the climbing ones must go 

 to Eu-Cryptolepis. 



Cryptolepis (§ Ectadiopsis) Elliotii Schltr., n. sp. Sulfrutex 

 erectus, bipedalis et ultra, glaberrimus, valde ramosus ; ramis 

 erectis teretibus scabridiusculis, sparsim foliatis ; foliis ovato- 

 oblongis vel ovato-ellipticis acutis vel breviter acuminatis, mar- 

 ginibus revolutis, subtus pallidioribus, brevissime peiiolatis vel 

 subsessilibus, 2-3 cm. longis, medio 1-2 cm. latis ; iloribus in 

 racemis terminalibus subcorymbosis, pallide ochroleucis ; calycis 

 eegmentis oblongis vel suborbicularibus obtusissimis, tenuissime 

 ciliatis, quam corollte tubo paulo brevioribus, 0-1 era. longis ; corollse 

 lobis erecto-patentibus, 0-3 cm. longis, basi ad medium usque in 

 tubum connatis, oblongis obtusiusculis utnnque glabris ; coronee 

 squamis carnosis minutis in medio tubo insertis subteretibus apice 



