I 



241 



Tariegation resides entirely lu tlie rootstock, as cuttings of tLe 

 latter always reproduce the varieg-ated plant. 



40. S. fasciata, Comu ex Gcrome and Lahroy in Bull. Mus. 

 Hist. Nat. Paris, 1903, pp. ITO, 1T2, 173, fig. S.—Stemless, with 

 thick creeping rootstock and crowded leaf-tufts. Leaves fre- 

 quently 2 (sometimes 3-5) in a tuft, with the hasal half erect 

 «nd the upper part recurved-spreading or sometimes drooping, 

 coriaceous, but rather flexible, smooth, li-2f ft. long, lJ^4i in. 

 broad, i in. thick at the middle of the blade, lanceolate, acute, 

 with a green point 1-3-lin. long, withering to whitish at the tip, 

 tapering from about the middle into a stout concave-channelled 

 petiole,°pale green above, whitlsh-^reen beneath, very distinctly 

 marked on both sides with irregular narrow zig-zag transverse 

 dark green bands; on the upper surface the pale green areas are 



m.«re 



longitudinally traversed by dark green lines ; beneath the colour- 

 ins is much brighter, with fewer and more distant dark green 



m 



green lines; margins at first green, finally very narrowly 

 whitish or reddish, with age sometimes decomi^osing into very 

 fine fibres. Flowers not seen. De "Wildem. Notices PL Utiles 

 du Congo, pp. 624-625, fig. 3. S. lasciata, Gentil, Liste PI. Cult. 

 Jard. Bot. Brux., 190T, p. 172. 



CoxGO Fkke State. Sent to Paris Botanic Garden from the 

 Congo region by Dybowski in 1891 and by Lecomte in 1894. 



Described from a portion of the type plant cultivated at Kew, 

 ori<Tinally received from Paris Botanic Garden in 1903. Thitf 

 species appears to be closely allied to 5. hracteata, Baker; its 

 leaves are very similar in their very pronounced variegation, but 

 the hardened margin is only half as broad as in that species. I 

 think it probable that specimens distributed by A. S. Curtiss, 

 No. 112, under the name of S. guinecnsis, Willd., belong 

 to this species ; it is stated to be common along roadsides near 

 Nassau, in the Bahamas, where it is introduced. 



41. S. abyssinica, N. E. Broxcn in Kew Bull., 1913, p. 306.— 



Rootstock creeping, f in. or more thick. Leaves, 1-2 to a 

 growth in the specimens seen, apparently erect, firm or subrigid, 

 rough, with fine transverse rugosities on both sides, but more dis- 

 +;r.o+7Tr 'KonpatL 9. ft cr lather more in lenffth. 23—3 in. broad. 



lanceolate, acute, with a hardened brown apical point 1 lin. (or 



more?) long, tapering from the middle into a stout concave- 

 channelled petiole l-\ as long as the blade, wavy along the 

 margins, with hardened reddish-brown edges \ lin. broad, 

 apparently green, without markings on either side, or the mark- 

 ings obliterated in drying. Floiccr-stem 2i-2| ft. high, \ in. or 

 more thick at the "^base, with 5-6 ovate-lanceolate acute or 

 acuminate distant sheaths on the lower half and a spike-like 

 raceme of flower-clusters occupying the upper half. Bracts and 

 flowers not seen, the specimen being in fruit. Flowers 4-5 in a 



«i„o+„T. rwT- ^oTf^f in tlio nT^rtPr (>ln>;tprs: nedicels in fruit 3-4 lin. 



