NEW AFBICAN PLANTS. 55 



are densely covered on the lower surface with stellate hairs, sparsely 

 on the upper. The perianth-segments are 3h lines long, f-1 line 

 broad ; tlie stamens are 2^ lines, the style 2 lines. 



Evidently closely allied to C. somalensis, the only species hitherto 

 contained in the genus, but at once distinguished by its much 

 larger ovate leaves with the dense covering of stellate hairs, un- 

 branched hairs only occurring on those of C. somalensis. The 

 perianth-segments are also shorter and broader in proportion, and 

 of slightly more membranous texture. 



Hydnoia Hanningtoni Eendle, sp. n. (Plato 356). Ehizo- 

 mate crasso subangulato coralliforme valde tubevculoso ; floribus 

 maguis oblongo-cylindricis, perianthii 4-fidi lobis lineari-clavatis 

 marginibus barbatis apicem versus nudis ; antheris 4 in medio tubo 

 contiguis oblongis demum triangularibus apice rotundis; ovario 

 cylindrico, stigmatibus 4 cruciatis. 



Hab. Jordan's Nullah, Victoria Nyanza, Bishoji Hannington, 

 Dec. 1882. Ginia, Galla Highlands, I)r. Donaldson Smith, 1895. 



The thick irregularly-shaped rhizome owes its coral-like appear- 

 ance to the short ovoid buds by which it is densely covered ; it 

 reaches 1 in. in thickness. The flowers are smooth externally, and 

 brown in colour (according to Bishop Hannington's sketch), 0-7 in. 

 long, subcylindrical before opening, after which the upper part of 

 the perianth-lobes is separate, but incurved at the tips. The 

 perianth is 5 in. long, the diameter of the tube being a good inch, 

 while the lobes are 2|^-3 in. long, and IJ in. broad in the upper 

 third. The edges for two-thirds their length from the base are 

 rellexed and covered with short fleshy setfe ; in Bishop Hanning- 

 ton's sketch they are pink in colour. The four anthers form a 

 continuous four-lobed ring, attached to the perianth-tube. The 

 n- shaped lobes are 1 in. high, the tliick closely approximate arms 

 I in. across. The numerous pollen-sacs are indicated by transverse 

 striation. The four A-shaped stigmas are arranged in the form of 

 a cross, crowning the ovary, which is H in. long. 



Is alhed to the two Abyssinian species with tetraraerous flowers, 

 H. iibt/ssinica A. Br. and H. h<t;/osensis Becc. From the former it 

 is distinguished by the absence of the hook on the interior of the 

 perianth-lobes, by the clavate shape of the latter, and the short 

 setae on their edges. From H. bogosensis Becc, which I have not 

 seen, it differs (e descript. in Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital. iii. 6) in the 

 character of the perianth-lobes, which are lanceolate in the Abys- 

 siuian plant, and have their edges naked and only sparsely barhato 

 riululosis in the middle. Dr. Donaldson Smith says the fleshy 

 rhizome is eaten by the Somalis. 



Note. — We have at the British Museum another Hydnora {H. 

 abi/ssiiiica) from Somaliland, collected by Hildebrandt at Meid (on 

 tlie Gulf of Aden), April, 1875. H. abi/.ssinica has hitherto been 

 recorded, except from Abyssinia, only from Pangani, on the east 

 coast of Africa, nearly opposite Zanzibar (see Die Pjianzcnwelt 

 Ost-Afrik. th. C, p. 169). 



Gillettia Rendle, gen. nov. Commelinacearum (Plate 355, 

 fig. 2). [Aneilematis species, G. B. Clarke in DC. Momgr. Phanerog. 



