STWOPSIS OF THE AFEICAN SPECIES OF XEEOPHYTA. 233 



1. X. clavataj Baker, n. sp. — Hypoxia vellosioides, Harv. MSS. 

 Actual caudex not seen, but the tuft of leaves surrounded by a light 

 brown fibrous truncate sheath of several layers, as in the caulescent 

 kinds. Leaves half a dozen in a tuft, 3-5 inches long, i-| line broad, 

 triquetrous, with a thickened horny border, with distinct erecto- 

 patent bristly teeth, the face quite free from hairs, with 4-5 distinct 

 ribs on each side of the costa. Scapes slender, flexuose, wiry, as in 

 all other kinds, single- flowered, green in the lower half, black in the 

 upper, with a few scattered erecto-patent bristles in the top inch. 

 Ovary clavate, half an inch long, 2 lines thick, black, covered with 

 scattered ascending bristles half a line long. Corolla limb 15-24 lines 

 long, the divisions lanceolate acuminate, entirely petaloid, naked on 

 the outside. Anthers subsessile, slender, half an inch long. Style 

 filiform, considerably overtopping the stamens. Natal, Gerrard and 

 Mac Ken, 1824! 



2. X. retinervis, Baker, n. sp. — Stems in the specimen 18-21 lines 

 thick, the woody part half an inch thick ; the rest a dense mass of 

 imbricated fanlike fibrous brown sheaths, composed of ribs connected 

 by distinct, short, erecto-patent threads. From beneath the sheaths 

 near the top part of the branches proceed many tufts of 3-6 leaves 

 each, with 1 or sometimes 2-3 scapes to a tuft. Leaves half a foot 

 long, linear- or subulate-triquetrous, varying in breadth from half a 

 line to a quarter of an inch, very rigid in texture, entirely glabrous, 

 the ribs numerous, distinct, fine, and close, the edge and keel not 

 appreciably serrulate. Scapes 3 to 5 inches long, wiry, dark-coloured 

 in the upper half or thii^d, with a few bristles below the ovary. Ovary 

 oblong, about 4 lines long by half as thick, densely clothed with 

 ascending brown pungent bristles half a line long. Perianth-segments 

 15-18 lines long, 3-4 lines broad, naked on the outside. Anthers 

 nearly sessile, slender, half an inch long. Style filiform, much over- 

 topping the stamens. Macalisberg, BurJce / Cape Colony, Zeyher, 

 1672! Natal, Miss Owen! in the Herbarium of Trinity College, 

 Dublin. 



3. X pinifoUa, Lam., Poir., Ency., viii., 804 ; Roem. & Schultes, 

 Syst. Veg., vii., 289. — The original Madagascar species, which I have 

 not seen. 



4. X. equisetoides, Baker, n. sp. — Caudices above an inch thick, 

 the outer half of the diameter made up of imbricated sheaths resembling 

 those of an Equisetum in appearance, made up of blackish-grey ribs 

 edge to edge, which protrude as minute unequal teeth at the truncate 

 apex. Leaves 4-8 to a tuft, half a foot long, subulate- or linear, 

 triquetrous, 1-3 lines broad, the ribs very numerous, fine, and close 

 the edge not appreciably serrulate. Scapes 2-4 inches long, wiry, 

 naked in the lower half, black in the upper half, with many minute 

 ascending bristles beneath the ovary. Ovary 3-4 lines long, ^ inch 

 thick at the top, narrowed gradually from the bottom to the top, 

 densely clothed with minute, brown, ascending, bristly hairs. Peri- 

 anth-limb 9-18 lines long, the segments lanceolate, naked on the 

 outside. Anthers half an inch long, slender, sessile, ligulate. Capsule 

 crustaceous, half an inch thick, denuded of some of the bristles. 

 Zomba and east end of Lake Shirwa, Br. Meller ! (in Livingstone's 

 Zambesi expedition). South African Goldfield, Baines ! South Tro- 



