Dissotis.] LVII. MELA9T0MACE.K (HOOKER). 453 



form.) Right bank of Luabo, and Moramballa, alt. 3500 ft., Kirk! (A small form, 

 with glabrous calyx-tube.) 



Closely allied to D. glumosa, but the leaves are. not so large, nor nearly so broad, 

 the petioles are shorter in comparison., and the calyx has shorter-stalked bristles. 



15. D. canescens, Hook.f. Hoary with stellate pubescence. Stem 

 2-3 ft., purple, stout, erect, 4-angled, sparingly branched, branches 

 erect ; nodes with few small erect bristles. Leaves 2-3 in. by J-J i n -> 

 subsessile, coriaceous, linear or linear- oblong, obtuse, quite entire, 

 3-nerved, dark green above with scattered stellate hairs, whitish and 

 densely puberulous beneath. Flowers 1—1 J in. in diameter, rose- 

 purple, in subterminal leafy panicles with erect branches, crowded, 

 shortly pedicelled ; bracts equalling the calyx-tube, ovate, obtuse, 

 membranous, purple. Calyx-tube \ in., hemispherical, covered with 

 mealy or stellate pubescence, as are the 5 triangular-lanceolate acute 

 persistent lobes, which equal the tube. Petals broadly obovate, ciliate 

 at the tip. Anthers of long stamens \ in., equalling the connective, 

 appendage clavate, notched ; connective of short stamens not produced, 

 2-tubercIed at the base. Capsule free, except at the angles, 5-valved 

 to the base, crown hoary. — Argyrella incana, Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. 

 ser. 3, xiii. 300. Osbeckia canescens, E. Mey. mss. ; Graham in Bot. 

 Mag. t. 3790. O. Uinlaasiana, Hochst. PI. Krauss. ; Harv. et Sond. Fl. 

 Cap. ii. 518. 



Nile Land. Moist places in the Ukidi forest, Grant t 



Also a native of Natal. In cultivated specimens the leaves are 1 in. broad, and cor- 

 date at the base. 



16. D. Irvingiana, Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 5149. Annual. Hirsute 

 with copious pale spreading bristly hairs. Stem 1-3 ft., stout, erect, 

 obtusely(branches acutely) 4-angled, copiously 3-chotomously branched; 

 nodes with spreading bristles J in. long. Leaves 2-3J- in. by J-| in., 

 linear-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, acute, 3-nerved, sparsely substri- 

 gosely hairy on both surfaces, margin cartilaginous, obscurely serrate ; 

 petiole very short, setose. Flowers copious, 1-1 \ in. in diameter, soli- 

 tary or 2-5 in short axillary and terminal cymes ; bracts 2, minute, 

 orbicular, membranous, ciliate, deciduous. Calyx-tube £ in., subglo- 

 bose, with a short cylindric apex, covered with scales crowned with 

 stellately arranged or very long crinite bristles ; lobes 5, half as long 

 as the tube, ovate, subacute, very long-ciliate, deciduous. Petals obo- 

 vate, red-purple. Anthers of long stamens \ in., shorter than the 

 connective, appendage short, 2-lobed ; connective of the smaller sta- 

 mens very short, 2-tubercled. Capsule nearly free from the 10-ribbed 

 calyx- tube, 5-valved at the tip, which is crowned with white bristles. 



Upper Guinea. Abbeokuta, Irving I Nupe, on the Niger, in wet places, Barter ! 

 Nile Land. Abyssinia, Tigre, Schimper! (n. 1437, coll. 1863-8.) 



17. D. Melleri, Hook. f. A small shrub ; branches woody, ob- 

 scurely 4-gonous, deeply furrowed when dry; nodes much swollen, 

 upper bristly. Leaves (the few remaining on the specimen) 1-1 J in., 

 very rigidly coriaceous, shortly petioled, elliptic-lanceolate, subacute, 



