APPENDIX. No. V. 483 
the want of tendrils. Adanson himself, indeed, notices what he considers a 
new species of Gloriosa in Senegal,* but he says nothing of the colour of its 
flowers, which he would hardly have omitted, had they been blue: that his 
plant, however, was not without tendrils, may be inferred from their entering 
into the character he afterwards gave of the genus,} as well as from M. La- 
marck’s account of his variety @ of G. superba,} which he seems to have 
described from Adanson’s specimens. And as no one has since pretended to 
have seen a species of this genus, either with blue flowers, or leaves with- 
out tendrils, G. simplex, which has long been considered as doubtful, may 
be safely left out of all future editions of the Species Plantarum. As the sup- 
posed G. superba of this coast, however, seems to differ from the Indian plant 
in the greater length and more equal diameter of its capsule, it may possibly be 
a distinct species, though at present I am inclined to consider it as only a variety. 
Sphenoclea zeylanica Gert. I have compared this plant from Congo with 
specimens from India, Java, China, Cochinchina,§ Gambia, Demerary, and 
the island of Trinidad. 
I was at one time inclined to believe, that Sphenoclea might be considered 
as an attendant on Rice, which it very generally accompanies, and with which 
I supposed it to have been originally imported from India into the various 
countries where it is found. This hypothesis may still account for its existence 
in the rice fields of Egypt;|| but as it now appears have to been observed 
in countries where there is no reason to believe that rice has ever been cul- 
tivated, the conjecture must be abandoned. 
Hibiscus tiliaceus L. agrees with the plant of India, except in a very slight 
difference in the acumen of the leaf; but the specimens from America have 
their outer calyx proportionally longer. 
Sida periplocifolia L. corresponds with American specimens ; those in Her- 
mann’s herbarium, from which the species was established, have a longer 
acumen to the leaf: in other respects I perceive no difference. 
* Nouvelle espéce de Methonica, Hist. Nat. du Senegal, p. 137. 
+ Mendoni, Fam. des Plant. 2. p. 48. 
+ Encyc. Method. Botan. A. p. 134. 
§ Rapinia herbacea of the Flora Cochinchinensis (p. 127) is certainly Sphenecles 
zoylanica, as appears by a specimen sent to Sir Joseph Banks by Loureiro himself. 
|| Delile Flor. Egypt. illust, in op. cit, 
