Polycarpct] xvi. caryophyllace^. 51 



MossAMEDES. — An annual prostrate grass-green herb ; the radical 

 leaves rosulate, the stem-leaves pseudo-verticillate. In damp sandy 

 places, not far from the banks of the river Bero, at Cavalheiros ; fl. 

 and fr. July 1859. No. 1083. A prostrate, much branched, rather 

 fleshy, annual herb, with purplish or green-purple stems, rose-coloured 

 petals, and purple sepals and capsule. July 1859. C(^ll. Carp. 233, 234. 



6. POLIA Lour. FL Cochinch. p. 164 (1790). Polycarpcea 

 Lam. (1792); Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. p. 154. 



1. P. arenaria Lour. Fl. Cochinch. p. 164 (1790). 



Polycaiycea corymhosa Lam. Tabl. Enc. ii. p. 129, n. 2798 

 (1793); Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. i. p. 145. 



HuiLLA. — In the more elevated thickets of the Morro de Lopollo, 

 in company with small plants of Compositse and Acanthacese, fl. and 

 fr. April 1860. No. 1080. Flowers brilliantly white ; frequently in 

 open sandy forests of "Panda" {^Berluiia pcuiiculata Benth.), about the 

 great lake of Ivantala, fl. and fr. beginning of March 18G0. No. 1081. 



Var. effusa (Oliv., I.e.). 



HuiLLA. — In the elevated shortly grassy pastures of Empalanca, 

 between Lopollo and Humpata, rather rare ; a herb, apparently peren- 

 nial, rhizome woody, stems numerous snow-white tomentellous, flowers 

 whitish ; fl. and fr. May 1860. No. 1078. In very elevated shortly 

 bushy sandy pastures, inundated in the rainy season, in Morro de 

 Lopollo, frequent, in company with Isoetes and Ophioglossum, flowers 

 from white to pale rose, fl. and fr. April 1860. No. 1079. 



Var. parviflora (Oliv., I.e.). 



LoANDA. — In the living state elegant, red-purple, inflorescence shining 

 with a golden- brown or claret colour ; petals whitish, very tender, 

 rather broad ; capsule triquetrous ; abundant in one locality, in sandy 

 cultivated fields and in low thickets, between Teba and Quicuxe, 

 fl. and fr. April to July 1854. No. 1072. In fields above Penedo, 

 frequent, fl. and fr. June 1858. No. 1072/^. In sandy tliickets by the 

 road leading to Calumbo, fl. and fr. May 1858. No. 1072c. 



Var. linearifolia. Polycarpcea IhiearlfoUa DC. Prodr. iii. p. 374, 

 Oliv., I.e., p. 146. 



PuNGO Andongo. — In sandy fertile woods, near Muta-Lucala, on 

 the right bank of the river Cuanza, abundant ; fl. and fr. March 

 1857 ; forms with inflorescence more or less capitate, mixed together. 

 No. 1075. In sandy thickets, between Condo and Quisonde. No. 1075^^. 



XVIL PORTULACE^. 



The Portulacece rapidly diminish in number of species with the 

 distance from the sea coast, and thus they appear with much 

 greater abundance in the highland region, where the rocky or 

 sandy soils of Pungo Andongo are much more favourable to these 

 plants, which in general prefer to live under climatic conditions 

 analogous to those of succulent plants; the Purslane {Portulaca 

 oleracea L.) occurs everywhere in the greatest abundance just 

 after the rains ; they not rarely cover extensive pieces of cultivated 

 lands, especially infesting crops of " Jinguba " {Arackis hyjjogcea 

 L.). See Welw. Apont. p. 557, and Ficalho, PI. Ut. p. 93 (1884). 



