Vernonia | LXXI, COMPOSITE. 535 
over the exposed part of the back or at least outside the appendages, 
lower part glabrous and glossy inside ; the outer ones linear or 
spathulate, like the bracts, { to + in. long; the inner ones longer 
and broader, with adpressed or revolute appendages ; the inner- 
most ones linear-oblong 3 to # in. long; the appendages mostly 
erect or in flower reflexed, thin with narrowly scarious margins, 
+ to 2 in. long, ovate or deltoid, terminal, acute or rounded or 
shortly apiculate, more or less woolly at the back ; corollas bluish, 
occasionally blue, exceeding the involucral scales, 3 to ? in, long, 
narrowly tubular, in the upper part narrowly funnel-shaped and 
5-cleft, the lobes lanceolate ; anther-tube 4 part exserted ; anthers 
with lanceolate appendages at each end ; style hispidulous in the 
upper part, the branches exserted, puberulous, rather elongated, 
spreading, incurved, tapering : achenes (young) } in. long, obovate- 
oblong, somewhat compressed, fuscous, obscurely 8- to 10-ribbed, 
closely setulose with short upturned pallid hairs ; pappus rufous, 
2 in. long, pluriseriate ; sete unequal somewhat flattened, slightly 
barbellate-ciliolate. 
Puneo ANDoNGO.—In rocky glades in the forest, between Calunda 
and Mangue, sporadic ; fl. and young fr. March 1857. No. 3278. 
This variety differs from V. guinecensis Benth. in Hook. Niger FI. 
p. 427 (1849), O. & H. in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. iii. p. 285, the type- 
specimens of which are in the British Museum herbarium, by the shape 
and margin of the leaves, as well as by the inflorescence ; to the latter 
species Hoffmann, /.c., unites V. firma O. & H., l.c., p. 290, which is 
founded on Schweinfurth’s specimens, n. 3153, from Niamniam-land, 
and which has broader leaves with an obsolete tomentum beneath ; the 
specimens collected by Scott Elliot nn. 4737, 4842 and sent out from 
the Kew herbarium, each with the name of V. firma attached, perhaps 
belong to different species ; the latter has foliage and inflorescence 
rather of V. guineensis Benth., and the former rather the foliage of 
V. ulophylla var. Hoffmanniana. 
41. V. sclerophylla O. Hoftm., /.c., xiii. p. 13. 
Punco ANDONGO.—A perennial suffruticose erect herb, 3 to 4 ft. 
high ; leaves subcoriaceous, rather rigid ; involucral scales subscarious, 
whitish, coriaceous at the base, imbricate, spreading ; flowers azure- 
blue or bluish. In the more elevated secondary thickets of the 
presidium, not uncommon, fl. end of Feb. 1857; also in bushy places 
amongst tall grasses within the presidium ; abundant, fl. and fr. 
beginning of May 1857. No. 3277. 
42. V. rigidifolia Hiern, sp. n. 
An erect stiff herb, 24 ft. high or more ; stem simple up to the 
inflorescence, subterete below, sulcate-striate, puberulous, not 
scabrid, uniformly leafy ; leaves alternate, oblanceolate or obovate, 
subobtuse at the apex, wedge-shaped to the attenuate scarcely 
petiolate base (or witha narrowly-winged petiole), very rigid, charta- 
ceous, very scabrous otherwise glabrous above, obsoletely tomentose 
beneath, dentate, 14 to 6 in. long by } to 14 in. broad ; lateral 
veins widely spreading, about 10 on each side, slender, along the 
bottom of depressions on the upper face, raised on the lower face ; 
capitula sub-hemispherical, } to 3 in, in diameter, many-flowered, 
