146 XVII. CARYOPHYLLACE^ (OLIVER). {l^olycarpfjen. 



cymes, on widely divaricate, branching peduncles or singly terminating the 

 slender branches in the simpler forms. Sepals very acute, about twice as long 

 as the capsule, two to four times longer than the petals. — Mollia stellata, 

 Willd. ; Schum. et Thonn. Guin. PI. 186. 

 Upper Guinea. Niger, T. Vogel ! Ansell ! 



3 P. linearifolia, DC. Frod. iii. 374. An erect herb or decumbent 

 at the base w^ith erect, hoary-tomentose, more or less forked branches, from 

 about 1-3 ft. in height. Leaves in pairs or pseudo-verticils, linear or linear- 

 subulate, glabrous or thinly pilose with long subulate scarious stipules. 

 Flowers in dense, hemispherical or subglobose, many-tiowered, solitary or 

 loosely-panicled heads terminating the erect branches, -1-1 in. diam. Sepals 

 lanceolate, very acute, considerably exceeding the petals and 2-many-seeded 

 capside. — DC. Mem. Paronyc. t. 6. 



Upper Guinea. Senegambia, Sieber ! Bidjem ! Niger, T. Vogel! and others. 

 Nile Land. Abyssiuia, &/uwj5£'/- / Kordofan, ^<9^,yc% ; Bahr-el-Abiad {Schweinf. et 

 yt.sr/i. EiiHvi.). 



IjOT^rer Guinea. Pungo Andongo, Dr. Welwitsch ! 

 Perhaps a congested variety of P. corymbosa. 



4. P. glabrifolia, DC. Trod. iii. 374. An ascending or erect herb wdth 

 a tomentose or at length glabrate more or iess branched stem. Leaves 

 crowded or in rather remote pairs, linear-lanceolate, subacute or rather ob- 

 tuse, somewhat 3-nerved, glabrous, with silvery, ovate-lanceolate, finely- 

 pointed stipules. Flowers in compact, terminal, roundish, capitate, many- 

 ilowered cymes, solitary, or 2 or 3 together in our specimens. Sepals ovate, 

 acute, but not narrowed to a tine point as in the other tropical African species, 

 considerably exceeding the capsule. — DC. Mem. Paronyc. t. 5. 



Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, Don I Grand Bassa, T. Vogel ! Senegal. 

 Nile Land. Kordofan, Kotschj {fFebb, Frag. Fl. Mh.). 



5. P. fragilis, Delile ; DC. Prod. iii. 374. Hoary-puberulous or -to- 

 mentose herb of |-1 ft. Avith numerous spreading branches usually from a 

 woody nodose stock; lateral branches usually short. Leaves linear-lanceo- 

 late with re volute margins, conspicuously mucronate, hoary or tomentose. 

 Stipules silvery, membranous. Flowers in small, rather densely fascicled 

 cymes either terminal or lateral on the veiy short lateral branchlets. Sepals 

 ovate-elliptical, apiculate, rather thick and herbaceous with a broadly mem- 

 branous margin, exceeding the petals. 



Nile Land. Nubia {Sckweinf. et Asch. Emim.). 

 Also in Egypt and Arabia. 



6. P. spicata, Amott in Ann. Nat. Hist. iii. (1839) 91. A glabrous 

 herb of 2-6 in. wdth straight spreading branches from the rosulate radical 

 leaves, each bearing a leafy tuft and umbellate peduncles terminating in dense 

 little fascicles of flowers, or, in small specimens, a single tuft of flowers after 

 1 or 2 pairs of reduced leaves. Leaves oblanceolate-spathulate, acute or 

 obtuse. Sepals scarious, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate WMtii a narrow coloured 

 median portion. Petals much shorter than the sepals, oblong, minutely 

 erose or emarginate. — P. staticcpformis, Hochst. et Steud. ; Webb, Frag. Fl. 

 .Eth. 40. 



