AizOOn] LXVI. FICOIDE^. 411 



capsule ob-pyramidal, truncate at the apex, 5- or 4-celled, with 5 or 4 

 rather thick spongy valves ; cells 1- or 2-seeded ; seeds pendulous from 

 the central column, which is thickened at the apex, compressed-reniform, 

 half surrounded by the rather long funicle, estrophiolate. In a moist 

 sandy place at the border of a forest along the banks of the river 

 Maiombo, near Pdo, among short bushes, in company with species of 

 Lobelia, HeUotropium and Phyllantlius, sparingly ; fl. and young fr, 

 Oct. 1859. No. 1113. 



4. GALENIA L. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. p. 854. 



1. G. africana L. Sp. PL, edit. 1, p. 359(1753)- Oliv. Fl. Trop. 

 Afr. ii. p. 585. 



Var. pentandra. 



Leaves oblanceolate-linear, ranging up to 1 in. long by | in. 

 broad ; stamens mostly only 5. 



MossAMEDES. — An erect very rigid shrubby herb, or a hard-woody 

 little shrub, 1 to 2 ft. high, branched in a csespitose-divaricate manner ; 

 leaves opposite or congested pseudo-verticillate, rather fleshy, viscid, 

 pale-green, folded-reflexed at the apex ; flowers dichotomously corym- 

 bose ; calyx green-yellowish outside, rather rosy inside, with 1, 2, or 4 

 bracteoles, and with 5 rather obtuse hooded lobes obtusely tuberculate 

 on the back ; stamens 5, alternating with the calyx-lobes ; filaments 

 filiform ; anthers didymous ; ovary sessile, obovoid, 2-celled, cells 1- or 

 rarely 2-ovuled ; styles 2, erect-spreading, central, stigmatose a long 

 way down the inner side ; capsule membranous, turbinate, when fully 

 ripe opened down to the base into 2 valves, almost always 1 -seeded in 

 consequence of one cell becoming abortive or reduced and the septum 

 disappearing to a great extent or adhering to the wall of the capsule : 

 seed pyrif orm, quite black, longitudinally densely and deeply furrowed, 

 the lines of the furrows very delicately punctulate. In rocky sparingly- 

 bushy places along the right bank of the river Bero, at Boca do Bero, 

 rather rare ; in late fl. and fr. June 1860. No. 1093- An ascending 

 or nearly erect undershrub, perhaps only biennial ; stems and branches 

 opposite, with a whitish bark ; leaves rather fleshy, pale-green ; flowers 

 white. On maritime sand-rocks between Cabo Negro and Mossamedes, 

 sparingly ; not yet in good fl. 4 Sept. 1859. Apparently a young state 

 of No. 1093. No. 1092. 



The admission of this variety necessitates the enlargement of 

 the characters of the genus to include isostemonous flowers. 



5. HALIMUM Loefl. It. Hisp. p. 191 (1758); non Halimus 

 P. Browne(1756). Portulacastruvi\joe^.,l.c.,^. 106. S'esuvhmi Ti. 

 (1759); Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. p. 855. 



1. H. Portulacastrum 0. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PL i. p. 263 

 (Halimus) (1891). 



Portulaca Portulacastrum L. Sp. PL edit. 1, p. 446 (1753). 

 Sesuvium Portulacastrum L. 8yst. Nat., edit. 10, ii. p. 1058 (1759) ; 

 Oliv. PL Trop. Afr. ii. p. 585. 



Ambeiz. — The whole plant blood-red-purple ; stems decumbent, 1 to 

 4 ft. long ; flowers rosy. In grassy maritime sandy places at the mouth 

 of the river Loje, near Ambriz, very abundant ; fl. and fr. Nov. 1853 

 and 1857. No. 2383. 



