Epiiietrurti] iv. menispermaceje. 21 



9. EPINETRUM Hiern, gen. nov. 



Dioecious. Male flowers axillary, about 3 together, clustered, 

 subsessile, bracteate. Outer sepals 6, ovate, puberulous, imbri- 

 cate, all small and gradually smaller outwards down to the 

 similar bracteole; inner sepals 3, connate into a shortl}- trifid 

 valvate cup, crass, glabrate, 2 or 3 times as high as the outer 

 sepals, lobes ovate obtuse. Petals 6 or fewer or obsolete, very 

 short, some or all truncate and imbricate, glabrous. Stamens 

 glabrous, united into a thick firm 6-ribbed column, which is 

 thicker and antheriferous in several (6 vertical) rows near and 

 at the apex; anthers 18 (or more?), sessile; cells 2, extrorse, 

 transversely dehiscing, at length confluent, ovary 0. 



The female plant is unknown : therefore the precise position of 

 this genus in the Family must for the present remain uncertain, 

 but the peculiar androecium serves to characterise the genus ; it 

 appears to be intermediate between the genus Syndisia Benth. 

 and the tribe Cissampelideae. 



1. E. undulatum Hiern, sp. unica. 



A slender climbing shrub ; stems terete, tortuous, twining ; 

 branches pendulous ; the branchlets and petioles shortly tawny- 

 pubescent. Leaves entire, alternate, oval, obtusely sub-acuminate, 

 mucronate, rounded at the base, coriaceous, glossy, glabrous except 

 the puberulous midrib, penninerved, \\ to 2| by | to 1^ in. ; 

 mai'gins rather incrassate-revolute, quite entire, wavy with small 

 undulations ; lateral veins slender, alternate, 5 or 6 on each side 

 of the midrib, inconspicuous on the upper surface ; petiole \ to 

 \ in., usually bent and thickened near the apex. Male flower- 

 buds about \ in. long. 



PuNGO Andongo. — Yery sparingly in stony densely bushy primitive 

 woods, in Mata de Pungo, in leaf and few male flowers, May 1857. 

 No. 477. 



V. NYMPHiEACEiE. 



The species of this Order, and especially Nynijyhcea dentatcc 

 Schum. & Thonn., constitute the wonder of the great lakes of 

 the coast region, which are very often entirely covered with this 

 fine and very beautiful water-lily. The tuberculose rhizomes of 

 the species are edible, with the flavour of chestnuts, and are much 

 sought after by the natives. 



1. BRASENIA Schreb. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. p. 46. 



1. B. peltata Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. ii. p. 389 (1814); Oliv. 

 Fl. Trop. Afr. i. p. 52. 



B. africana Welw. (^Barteria) in Archiv. Sc. Phys. et Nat., Jul. 

 1861, p. 8. B. j)ur2mrea Caspary in Jorn. Sc. Lisb. iv. p. 312 

 (1873). Cahomhacea, Welw. in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. p. 186 (1861). 



The stems in deep water attain 18 ft. in length. It recalls 

 Limnanthemu'ni ny7)i2:)hoides by its leaves, and by its flowers 

 Butomus umhellatus L. 



