106 XII. viOLAKiEiE (OLIVER). [lonidium. 



shortly petiolate, usually 1-3 in. long and varying in breadth from yY~¥ ^^• 

 Stipules subulate. Flowers blue purple or dull red, axillary, solitary, on fili- 

 form pedicels of 1-6 lines, bearing a pair of minute bracteoles near the calyx 

 or above the middle. Sepals lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, acute. Lower 

 petal much exceeding the rest, 3-7 lines long with a distinct claw dilated 

 and saccate at the base ; lamina rounded-cuneate or ovate. Two lateral pe- 

 tals rather larger than the two upper, oblique, narrowed to an obtuse apex ; 

 upper petals linear-lanceolate, acute. Seeds white or pale, oblong-obovoid, 

 the chalazal end truncate, longitudinally ribbed and usually more or less dis- 

 tinctly transversely striate. — /. thesiifolium, DC. Prod. i. 309, and var. cheno- 

 podioides, Guill. et Perr. Fl. Seneg. 35. Viola guineensis, Schum. et Thonn. 

 Guin. PL 133. {? V. lanceifolia, Schum. et Thonn. 1. c.) /. rhabdospermum, 

 Hochst. (Jide Webb). For extended synonymy, see 'Flora Indica ' of Drs. 

 Hooker and Thomson (ined.). 



Upper Gruinea. Senegal, Heudelot ! and others ; Niger, T. Yogel ! Barter ! etc. 

 Abbeokuta, Barter ! Guinea, Thonning. 



Nile Ijand. Kordofan, Kotschy ! 



laower Guinea. Loanda, Angola, Dr. Welwitsch ! 



Mozaxub. Distr. Zambesi, Dr. Kirk ! 



Var. hirta {I. hirtum, Klotzsch in Peters' Mossamb. 148). Zambesi, Dr. Kirk ! Peters ! 

 near Simbah, about lat. 5-6° S., Speke and Grant ! 



Occurs also in Madagascar, India, and Australia. A very variable plant in form of leaf, 

 indiunentum, and perhaps size and colour of flowers. 



3. ALSODEIA, Thouars; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PL i. 118. 



Sepals not produced at the base. Petals nearly or quite equal, exunguicu- 

 late or nearly so. Filaments connate, the anthers inserted upon or within the 

 margin of the tube, or free, usually with a conspicuous dorsal or terminal 

 connective produced beyond the cells. Placentas 1-oo-ovulate. Style 

 straight with a terminal stigma. Capsule 3-valved, opening loculicidally, few- 

 seeded. Seeds rounded or angulate, glabrous or cottony. — Shrubs or trees. 

 Leaves usually alternate serrate or crenate (often minutely) or entire. Sti- 

 pules small. Flowers small axillary or terminal, fasciculate racemose or pani- 

 culate, rarely solitary. 



A considerable tropical amd subtropical genus common to both hemispheres, though none 

 of the New World species have been identified in the Old, nor do any of the African species 

 occur in India. Some of the species are apparently very variable and exceedingly diificult to 

 define, the difficulty increasing as usual with the material. I am uncertain how far 1 may 

 be right in attributing importance in the diagnoses to the insertion of the anthers. 



Flowers in axillary or axillary and terminal fascicles or racemes, 

 rarely solitary. 

 Flowers axillary. Stamens free. Dorsal connective narrower 



than the anther-cells ; apex deciduous \. A. caudata. 



Filaments connate. Dorsal connective as broad or broader than 

 the anther cells. 

 Flowers in axillary racemes or fascicles. Connective ovate, 



obtuse 2. A. latifolia. • 



Flowers in lateral and terminal short racemes or fascicles ; an- 

 thers not exserted ; connective elongate-lanceolate, acute . 3. A. elliptica. 

 Flowers in loose racemes with spreading pedicels ; anthers 



exserted 4. ^. ardisiajlora. 



