20 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



but the latter is distinguished by its cordate leaves, and the very 

 dense lucent hair-covering of leaves and stem. 



I have written out this species as I cannot find that any de- 

 scription has ever been published or reference made to it in any 

 published account of the genus. It belongs to the section Dasy- 

 chcBtia of Hallier's arrangement of his African species in Engler's 

 Jahrbuch, xviii. 180. This section contains two species, the closely 

 allied I. pellita and also I. linosepala Hall, f., collected by Welwitsch 

 in Angola. HalHer refers to a third species, from Natal {Gerrard, 

 no. 577), represented by incomplete specimens in the Vienna Her- 

 barium, and having large ovate long-stalked leaves, remarkably 

 long flower- stalks exceeding the leaves, and long linear bracts. 

 I have little doubt that this is I. ovata E. Meyer, as in the Her- 

 barium of Trinity College, Dublin, there is a specimen from the 

 Nototi River, Natal, collected by W. T. Gerrard, consisting of a 

 leaf and a fruit-bearing peduncle, both detached and broken at 

 the base, which evidently belong to this species, and were so 

 determined many years ago by Mr. J. G. Baker. 



My description is based on specimens of Drege labelled ^'Ipomcea 

 ovata E. Mey.," and others which agree with it, and, like it, come 

 from Natal — namely, a specimen from near Camperdown {Medley 

 Wood, no. 4999), and a specimen in the Dublin Herbarium labelled 

 " Atterchff, J. Sanderson, Esq.'' It is possible that a larger series 

 of specimens may show a more or less complete transition to 

 I. pellita Hall, f., but whether or no the two are conspecific, it 

 is worth while to have some account of a name, which, though 

 included in the Index Keivensis and represented in herbaria by 

 authenticated specimens, has nevertheless been overlooked by 

 monographers. 



Section Pharbitis. 



I. cREPiDiFORMis Hallicr f . in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. xviii. 131 (1893). 

 I. tanganyikeyisis Baker in Kew Bullet. 1895, 70. 



Var. MINOR, var. nov. Planta humiUs caulibus ascendentibus 

 quam in specie minoribus, foliis parvis lineari-oblanceolatis, in- 

 terdum lineari-oblougis. 



Shoots 17-28 cm. long, 1-5-2 mm. thick; lower leaves smaller 

 than the upper, which reach a length, including the short petiole 

 (2-3 mm.), of 3-5-4 cm. long by 5-6 mm. broad. Peduncles to 

 7 cm. long, scarcely more than -5 mm. thick; flower-heads about 

 12 mm. across, the conical buds densely covered with a whitish 

 silky pubescence. Bracteoles and sepals 1 cm. long, the latter 

 reaching 1-5 mm. in breadth above the base, densely hairy on the 

 back and margins. Corolla not quite 2-5 cm. long by 2 mm. in 

 diameter at the base, apparently purplish in colour, the mid-petaline 

 areas bounded by two strong nerves, with three less conspicuous 

 nerves between. 



Hab. British East Africa; Machakos, 5-6000 ft., G. F. Scott 

 Elliot, no. 6391, 1893. 



I. INVOLUCRATA Bcauv. Fl. Owar. ii. 52, t. 89. 



Bhodesia; Salisbury, Dr, Rand, no. 561, July, 1898. 



