252 



^^a 



According to Messrs. Ide and Christie, 1 



good class fibre, much liked/' Its value was then £35 per ton 

 (Sept., 1902). 



Var. zuluensis, A\ E. Brown (fig. 23). Leaves 2\-A in. broad. 

 Flowers with pedicels 2-3 lin. long, jointed at or slightly above 

 the middle, with a distinct deciduous part; tube 10-14 lin. long; 

 lobes 10-11 lin. long. Otherwise as in the type. 



South Afeica. 



12,010! and cultivated specimens! 



Wylie in He 



from living plants sent by Dr. J. Medley Wood in 

 1910 to Kew, where it fiowered in September, 1911. The flowers 

 expand at about 4.30 p.m. The specimen from Nelspruit (see 

 Kew BuIL 1907, p. 369, under S. grancUs) probably belongs to 

 this variety. The material consists of leaves only, which are 

 narrower than in the typical form. 



50. S. Raffilli 



Steniless. with a very 



etout creeping rootstock f-2 in. thick, whitish. Leaves of juvenile 

 plants 3-4, and of adult flowering plants 1-2 to a growth, with 

 some sheaths surrounding their base, erect, rigid, smooth 

 2~Z\ ft. long, 2^-5 in. broad, l^ in. thick, elongated 



lanceolate or broadly strap-shaped, acute, with a short hard 

 reddish-brown point, narrowed below- the middle to a sessile base 

 or into a short stout concave petiole; when young handsomely 

 variegated with large elongated oval closely placed blotches or 

 broad irregular transverse bars of yellowish-green on a darker 

 green ground on both sides, or the paler markings on the back of 

 the leaf sometimes whitish, the paler colour occupying the greater 



spicuous ; margins 



ft. iiigii, 1-f in. t: 



lanceolate acuminn 



maikinirs become 



Floiver-stem 3-3^ 



icuminate or subulate pointed sheaths 2-5| in. long, 

 of which the lower are rather rigid and coloured like the leaves, 

 the upper becoming thinner or membranous ; the tipper part of 

 the stem bears a spike-like raceme 2-2i ft. long. Bracts 2^-8 lin. 

 long, l|-2l lin. broad, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, membranous, 

 pale greenish-white. Flowers 2-5 in a cluster ; pedicels 2-3 lin. 

 long, jointed above the middle, with the persistent part 1^-2 

 hn. long and a very distinct deciduous part f-1 lin. long; tube 

 1-li in. long, greenish-white, slightly glaucous; lobes l|-li in. 

 long, linear, obtuse, revolute, white. 



British East Africa. Tsavo district, scarce, rowell, 7 ! 



Described from a plant, which flowered at Kew Dec. 20, 1910. 



Var. glauca, N. E. Brow7i. — Leaves very dark bluish-green, 

 marked with distinct, but not very conspicuous, irregular spots 

 or somewhat zig-zag transverse bands of lighter green 1-2 in. 

 npart very distinctly bluish-glaucous all over. Flower-stem 

 bluish-glaucous below, lighter green speckled with pale green 

 above with the sheaths on its basal part very pale green or 

 xshitish-green, dusted or banded with darker green, with .<=nb. 

 membranous greenish or reddish tinted margins, not or but 

 sii^htiy glaucous. Bracts incurx'ed-spreading, the lower about 

 1 m. long and the upper about l in. long, linear-lanceolate, verv 



