936 cxiv. SANTALACE.E. [Thesium 



CXIY. SANTALACE^. 



Before Welwitsch's time Santalacese were thought to be absent 

 from west tropical Africa ; their discovery in Pungo Andongo 

 and Huiilla was therefore important, and is one of the best proofs 

 of the relationship which exists between this flora and that of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, where numerous species of Thesium have 

 been found. One of the species, T. virgatum Welw., has quite the 

 habit of Thymelcea arvensis Lam., while the rest of the Angolan 

 species much resemble the European species of Thesium, especially 

 those with prostrate stems. 



1. THESIUM L. ; Benth. & Hook. £. Gen. PI. iii. p. 221. 



1. T. strigulosum Welw. ms. in herb. 



A perennial herb, with the habit of the genus, rough through- 

 out with short rigid hairs ; rootstock woody, polycephalous ; 

 stems prostrate or ascending, patently setulose-hirsute, 6 to 

 12 in. long, wiry, subterete, branched mostly in the lower part; 

 branches shortly flagelliform, slender ; leaves alternate, subulate, 

 acute, yV to yV in. long, or the lower ones sublinear and obtuse, 

 all uni-nerved, not decurrent ; flowers yellowish, y^^ to ~ in. long, 

 on very short pedicels, in the axils of bracts shorter than them- 

 selves, together forming long narrow terminal bracteate spikes and 

 also sometimes short lateral ones ; bracts several, some of them in 

 a whorl around the flowers, subulate ; free portion of the perianth 

 ^ in. long, 5 -cleft, shortly campanulate, puberulous outside ; the 

 segment deltoid-ovate, glabrous inside ; stamens 5 ; filaments very 

 ■short, inserted on the perianth-tube ; anthers oblong, J^ in. long ; 

 lower portion of the fruit ellipsoidal-oblong, -^-^ in. long, not 

 ribbed, tubercular ; style glabrous, exceeding the anthers ; stigma 

 capitellate, included. 



PuxGO Andongo. — In rocky thickets near Condo ; fl. and fr. March 

 1857. No. 6432. 



2. T. rectangulum \Yelw. ms. in herb. 



An annual, strictly erect, glaucescent, wiry herb, 1 to IJ ft. 

 high, minutely or obsoletely puberulous, branched like a broom, 

 branches acutely angular or somewhat winged in consequence of 

 the leaves being decurrent ; leaves about ^ to |- in. long, mostly 

 alternate, sub-linear, acute, adpressed ; flowers whitish, terminal, 

 y\- in. long, very shortly pedunculate, erect ; free portion of the 

 perianth gV ^^^- l^^i^gj campanulate subhemispherical and deeply 

 5-lobed in flower, persistent lengthening more cylindrical and 

 Avith a longer tube in fruit ; the lobes ovate-lanceolate, thickened, 

 hooded at the apex, not bearded ; stamens 5 ; filaments inserted 

 about the middle of the base of the perianth-lobes ; anthers 

 shortly oblong, shorter than the lobes ; style exceeding the 

 anthers, shorter than the perianth ; fruit including the persistent 

 perianth ^ in. long, the lower part globose, yV in. in diameter, 

 ribbed and transversely veined. 



