207 



margins of the cliannel acute, reddisli-broT^-n, witli white mem- 



branous edges. 



more high, bearing 



tant membranous acute slieatlis_li-2 in. long on the lower part, 

 paniculately branched above. 



2-4 



what laxly scattered along the branches; pedicels about 1 lin. 

 long; tube about ^ in. long, pale greenish; lobes about 4i lin. 

 long, recurved-spreading, whitish on the inner surface, purplish 



TTt 



on the back. 



626, 627, 633. 



Germa?t East Apkica. Among bushes, on coral-rock formo- 

 tion, near Lindi, Perrot. 



Described partly from the original description and figure, 

 partly from a very fine life-sized drawing at Kew of a plant sent 

 by Dr. Stuhlmann from Dar-eS-Salaam to the Calcutta Botanic 

 Garden, where it flowered in March, 1904. 



11. S. robusta, A". E. Brown. Rootstoch stout, creeping. 

 Stem of adult plants 1-2 ft. high, erect, covered by the bases of 

 the leaves, 1 in. or more thick. Leaves 6-14 to a grcw'th, 2- 

 ranked, crowded, erect or slightly spreading in a fanlike manner, 

 smooth, the inner of adult flowering plants 3-7 ft. long, the outer 

 shorter, all laterally compressed, with flattened sides, very 

 rounded on the back, with a triangular channel as broad as the 

 leaf and 4-5 lin. deep all down the face, f-l^ in. thick from side 

 to side and l^lf in. thick from front to back near the base, 

 thence gradually tapering upwards and rather abruptly narrowed 

 into a hard spine-like brown point ^-^ in. long at the apex; dark 

 green, faintly glaucous, with 14-30 longitudinal continuous or 

 interrupted darker green lines, usually arranged in groups of 

 2-4, which with age shrink into slight furrows, otherwise without 

 bands or spots, the acute margins of the channel narrowlj- bor- 

 dered with red brown and edge with white. Flower-stem about 

 4 ft. high, panicuiately branched above, with the flower-clusters 

 rather distantly scattered along the branches. Peisistent part 

 of the pedicels |-| lin. long. Flotvers not seen. 



Beitish East Africa. Between \oi and the Taita Hills, 

 Grenfelh G ! 13 ! 18 ! Voi, Poioell ! 



Described partly from living plants cultivated at Kew, partly 

 from dried specimens, which are without flowers and have only 

 a very imperfect panicle. This species yields an abundance of 

 fibre of good quality. 



>S, robusta is closely allied to S. Ehrenhergii^ but the taller 

 stem and more numerous leaves seem well to distinguish it, the 

 tubercles bearing the clusters of flowers upon the only inflores- 

 cence seen are neither so closely placed nor so prominent on the 

 branches of the panicle as in the Nubian plant, and when flower'^ 

 are forthcoming, these may prove to be distinct. 



12. S, Ehrenbergii, Schireinfurth ex. Baker in Journ. Linn 

 Soc. vol. xiv, p, 549. Stevi 0-9 in. high, concealed by the loaf- 

 bases. Leaves 5-9, crowded, 2-ranked, erect or more or less 

 spreading fanwise, faintly rough, 2^-6 ft. long, 1-1^- in. thick 

 from side to side, 1:^"1| in. thick from front to back, laterally 



