or 



211 



to apex on the face, tapering upwaiJs and at tlie opex someTvliat 

 abruptly contracted jnto a hard acute whitish point i-^i in. lon^, 

 marked with a brown band at its base, someAvkit indistinctly 

 marked with dark green and paler green" transverse bands, 

 becoming bluish-green with age, longitudinally marked with 

 numerous blackish-green lines, several of them continuous to the 

 apex others interrupted; margins of the channel acute, green, 

 only whitish along the basal 1^6 in. Flower- stem n~(2\?) 

 ft. long, pale green, bearing 2-3 acuminate sheaths |-2 in. loug 

 on the basal third and a spike-like raceme of flower-clusters on 

 the upper two-thirds. Bmcts 11-3 lin. long, lanceolate, acute, 

 membranous. Flowers 2-3 in a cluster, white; pedicels 2^-3 lin. 

 long, jointed at the middle, with the persistent part 1^-1^ lin 

 long; tube 4^-5 lin. long, f lin. in diam. slightly inflated at 

 the base; lobes 6 Im. long, \ lin. broad, linear, revolute. 



TRoncAL Africa. Origin unknown, but probably British East 

 Africa. 



Described from a living plant which flowered at Kew on 

 April 4, 1910. 



16. S. intermedia, N. E. Brou-n in Kew Bulletin, 1914, p. 83 



(Fig. 6). Stemless. Leaves of adult plants 2-7 to a growth, not 

 2-ranked, erect or ascending, slightly recurving, stiff, not quite 

 smooth, but with a surface something like that of ground glass, 

 \\-A ft. long, i-| in. thick; the outer sometimes somewhat half 

 cylindric with acute edges to the concave channel; the inner 

 cyliudric, channelled oil down the face or occasionally the 

 central leaf is without a channel, gradually tapering from the 

 base to a very acute spine-like but not very "rigid whitish point, 

 with the channel much narrower than or at the basal part some- 

 times nearly as broad as the leaf, and having acute green or 



^ 



part 



or impressed longitudinal lines on the sides and back, at first dull 

 deep green, becoming slightly buish-green, with or without a 

 fanit indication of transverse banding. Flower-stem 8-18 in. 

 high, with 2-3 acuminate sheaths on the basal 2-3 in. and a 

 dense spike-like raceme of flower-clusters above, light greyish- 

 green, from being covered with minute spots composed of 

 ''frosted" cells when examined with a lens. Clusters 3-6- 

 flowered, very crowded. Bracts 1-2 lin. long, ovate or ovate 

 lanceolate, acute, membranous. Flowers, ascending-spreading; 



I 



edicels 1 lin. or less long, jointed at the apex; tube 7-9 lin.' 



ong, slightly ovoid-inflated and l\ lin. in diam. at the base, 

 more slender above, pale * greenish ; lobes i-| in. long, linear, 

 obtuse, revolute, white or greenish-wliite and mi^nutely dusted 

 with purplish on the back nt the apex. 



Beitish East Africa. Tsavo district, Poicell, 9 ! and without 

 precise locality, Powell 4 ! 



Described from a living plant received from Nairobi in 1906, 

 which flowered at Kew Nov. 5, 1913. 



