90 XXIV. STERCULiACE^. [Rermcmnia 



ascending viscid annual herb, with bright carmine flowers ; in sandy- 

 stations near the banks of the river Bero ; fl. and fr. July 1859. 

 No. 4711. An erect or ascending, viscid, much branched, annual or 

 biennial herb, with very elegant purple-vermilion flowers simulating 

 those of an AnagaUis ; in sandy shortly-bushy stations and at the 

 skirts of small woods, near Mata de Carpenteiros ; fl. and fr., 1859. 

 No. 4712. 



The species as here treated has its characters enlarged, and it 

 includes //. {Acicarpus) filipes Harv. var. elat'ior K. Schumann in 

 Yerhandl. Bot. Brandenb. xxx. p. 235 (1888) ; Welwitsch's specimens 

 appear to render this course imperative. 



7. MELOCHIA L. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. p. 223. 



1. M. corchorifolia L. Sp. PI. edit. 1, p. 675 (1753); Masters 

 in OHv. PI. Trop. Afr. i. p. 236. 



IcoLO E Ben GO. — In palm-groves near the river Bengo ; fr. Dec. 

 1853. No. 4716. Coll. Carp. 268. 



LiBONGO. — An undershrub, 1^ ft. high, with the habit of a Wcdthericiy 

 branched in an ascending manner from the base, the primary stem 

 erect, the branches gradually shorter from the base towards the apex ; 

 leaves bi-stipulate ; flowers crowded in terminal heads, whitish, yellow 

 when dry ; capsules 5-6-angled, 5-6-seeded ; abundant, but seen only 

 in one station at the marshy margins of a dried-up lake on the left 

 bank of the river Lifune, in company with Azolla pinnata Br., etc. ; 

 fl. and fr. middle of Sept. 1858. No. 4717. 



2. M. crinita Br. ms. in Herb. Mus. Brit. 



Cf. M. melissifolia, Masters, ^.c, p. 236, non M. melisscefolia 

 Benth. in Hook. Journ. Bot. iv. p. 129 (1841). 



An undershrub, 1| to 2| ft. high; stems erect, branched; 

 branches terete, glabrescent or pubescent both with long spreading 

 hairs and with short stellate hairs towards the apex ; internodes 

 short or ranging up to l^ inch ; leaves ovate, the lower ones 

 rounder and the upper ones narrower, obtusely or rather acutely 

 narrowed at the apex and rounded or truncate at the base, 

 crenate-serrate or serrate on the margins, glabrescent except along 

 the nerves or thinly scattered with simple appressed hairs, green 

 on both surfaces, rather thin, § to 2 in. long by | to 1 in. wide ; 

 petiole ranging up to ^ in. long, pubescent ; stipules narrow^ly lan- 

 ceolate, deciduous, shorter than the petiole ; inflorescence axillary 

 and subterminal, short, dense, pubescent, bracteate ; bracts nar- 

 rowly lanceolate, acute, unequal, pubescent with long sjDreading 

 hairs, all shorter than the petals ; flowers whitisli, sessile or sub- 

 sessile, I in. long ; calyx i in. long, membranous, thinly pubescent ; 

 lobes from a bi-oad base subulate, short ; jDetals narrowly obovate, 

 § in. long, glabrous ; stamens \ in. long, glabrous, exceeding the 

 style-branches ; filaments slender upwards, united at the base 

 for nearly half their length ; anthers narrowly lanceolate-oblong, 

 Y(y in. long. Pistil \ in. long ; ovary hairy, terminated by a 

 deeply 5-parted glabrous style; fruit subglobose, small, somewhat 

 hairy, terminated by the remains of the style. 



Ambkiz. — In marshes near Mossul ; fl. and fr. Nov. 1853. No. 4715. 



PuNGO Andongo.— Fl. and fr. No. 4718. 



