XXAa. STEKCUT.TACRyi:. 133 



7. MELHANIA, I'oisk. 



Herbs or uudershrubs, softly tomeiitose. Leaves simple, ovate or 

 cordate, crenate or .serrate. Peduncles axillary, 1-few-flowered. Flowers 

 yellow ; bracts cordate or narrow, often longer than tbe calyx. Calyx 

 o-partite. Petals ">, \Aithering round the ovary. Stamens 10. of which 

 o are sterile, connate below into a short cup, the staminodes ligulate 

 alternating with the perfect stamens ; anther-cells parallel. Ovary 

 sessile, 5-celled ; ovules 1-many in each cell ; style short, I'arely long ; 

 branches 5, subulate, spreading, stigmatose on the inside. Capsule 

 loculicidally dehiscent. Seeds albuminous ; cotyledons plicate, 2-partite : 

 radicle inferior. — Disteib. Africa, the warmer parts of Asia and tropical 

 Australia ; species 16. 



Cymes axillary ; invol. bracts linear. 



Petals longer than the sepals 1. M. incana. 



Petals short ei' than the sepals 2. M. ahi/sslnicu. 



Cymes terminal ; inA'ol. bracts ovate 3. M. tomentosa. 



Cymes axillary; invol. bracts reniform, greatly enlarged in 



fruit 4. M. Dcnhamii. 



1. Melhania incana, Heijne, in Wall. Cat. (1S2S) 120U. An 

 undershrub, 4-15 in. high ; branches terete, slender, tbe young ones 

 stellately tomeutose. Leaves l-2i by ;|-| in., oblong, obtuse, rounded 

 at the base, serrulate or subentire, glabrous above, more or less tomen- 

 tose beneath, 3-nerved from the base ; petioles g-| in. long ; stipules 

 J in. long, filiform. Plowers axillary ; peduncles longer or shorter than 

 the petiole, 1-4-flowered ; pedicels short ; involucral bracts 3, linear- 

 oblong, a little shorter than the sepals, tomentose. Sepals lanceolate, 

 acuminate, tomentose. Petals obovate, longer than the sepals. Capsules 

 hairy, globose, shorter than the sepals. Seeds angled, tubercidate. 

 PI. B. 1. v. 1, p. 372 ; Wight & Arn. Prodr. p. iiS. 



Hare. Specimens have been found al Badaini in the S. Maratha Country, not 

 elsewhere as far as is at present known. 



2. Melhania abyssinica, A. lilch. Tent. Fl. Ahyss. (1 847) v. 1 . 

 ]). 7<). A low much-branched undershrub ; branches terete, cano- 

 tomentose. Leaves 1 by l in., elliptic, obtuse, doubly serrate or some- 

 times sidjlobate, pubescent above, cano-tomentose beneath : petioles 

 pubescent, ^-k in. long ; stipides ^ in. long, subulate, stellatel}'' hairy. 

 Flowers -^ in. across, axillary, solitary ; pedicels | in. long ; involucral 

 bracts linear, shorter than the sepals. Sepals lanceolate, acute, pubes- 

 cent. Petals obovate, shorter than the sepals. Stigma subsessile. 

 Capsiiles ovoid, silky-villous, a little longer than the sepals. El. B. I. 

 v, 1, p. 372; Oliv. PI. Trop. Afr. v. 1, p. 231. Melhania ouata, Boiss. 

 PL Orient, v. 1, p. 841, excl. syn. 



SiNu: Stocksl 



1 have seen but a single specimen which was collected by tStucks I in Sintl. — Distkib, 

 Abyssinia, Cape de V(!rde Islands. 



3. Melhania tomentosa, Stoclcs, ex Mast. In Eoolc. f. Fl. B. I. 

 V. 1, p. 373. A cano-tomentose branched shrub. Leaves 1-2 by 

 |-1| in., ovate-oblong, acute, crenate-serrate, cano-tomentose on the 

 underside, more or less pubescent above, rounded or subcordate at the 

 base ; petioles |-| in. long, tomentose : stipules subulate, pubescent. 



