124 xcviii. ACANTHACE^ (clarke). [Lepidagathis. 



7. la. anobrya, Nees in DC. Prod. xi. 255. Leaves up to 7 by ^ in., 

 glabrate, ^^-nerved. Inflorescence of several radical heads (one head 

 seen in an axil ^ way up a branch), prickly; bract J-J in., narrow- 

 lanceolate, sparsely hairy. Sepals 5, with soft white hair or nearly 

 glabrate ; posticous sepal | in. or more long, elliptic, suddenly narrowed 

 into a straight linear point ; two anticous sepals with lamina | in. broad- 

 obovate, suddenly narrowed into a falcate subreflexed linear point. 

 Capsule scarcely ^ in. long, 2-seeded. — Benth. in Hook. Niger Fl. 480 ; 

 T. Anders, in Journ. Linn. Soc. vii. 33. 



Upper Guinea. Senegambia, Heudelot, 204 ! 



8. L. myrtifolia, S. Moore in Journ. Bot. 1S80, 38. Stems 2-3 ft. 

 high, flexuous, creeping, slender, pubescent (apparently applied to a rock 

 or tree, rooting, and flowering chiefly in the axils immediately above 

 the attachment). Leaves 1 by ^ in., elliptic, triangular-pointed apicu- 

 late, nearly sessile, when mature nearly glabrous shining, not 3-nerved ; 

 cystoliths obscure. Inflorescences radical and scattered, of dense small 

 ovoid heads f in. in diam., softly white-hairy, hardly prickly; bract 

 ^ in. loDg, lanceolate, acuminate, white-hairy. Sepals 5, J-| in. long, 

 acuminate, acute, softly white-hairy, and v/ith some gland-tipped hairs ; 

 posticous sepal Y^~i ^°- ^^'oad, oblong-lanceolate. Corolla | in. long. 

 Pollen ellipsoid with 3 longitudinal depressions and 3 pores ; the inter- 

 mediate surface granular, scarcely obsoletely reticulate. Ovule 1 in 

 each cell, fide S. Moore. 



wile Ziand. British East Africa : Jur ; Gir, Schweinfurth, 2493 ! 



Bentham observes (in Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. 1101) that, though in one 

 plant of this genus the cells of the ovary are 1-ovulate, he found a minute rudimentary 

 second ovule. This occurs frequently in Barleria, In these gentra, which have 

 4-seeded and 2-8eeded species, little weight can be attached to the character " ovary- 

 cells 2-ovulate, or 1-ovulate, or 1-ovulate with a more or less rudimentary lower ovule 

 added." 



0. I*. sparsicepSy C. B. Clarke. Branches and mature leaves 

 nearly glabrous. Leaves 2\ by ■y^-\ in., 3-nerved, with transverse 

 cystoliths on the upper surtace. Heads up to J in. long and broad, 

 obconoid, 1 (more rarely 2-3) axillary, scattered nearly the whole length 

 of the branches (no basal heads seen). Calyx and corolla nearly as of 

 L. radicalis, linear tips of the sepals rather longer with very much soft 

 white hair. Pollen ellipsoidal, with 3 longitudinal depressions and 

 pores, scarcely reticulated. 



Mozamb. Sist. British Central Africa : Nyasaland ; Tanganyika Plateau, 

 2000-3000 ft., Whyte! Nyika Plateau, 6000-7000 ft., Whyte ! Manganja Hills, 

 2000 ft.. Kirk ! 



This plant, in its glabrous linear 3-nerved leaves, is very near L. Schweinfurthii ; the 

 scattered more hairy white heads differ. 



10. La. lanatoglabra, C. B. Clarke. Tips of barren branches and 

 uppermost leaves white-woolly, other leaves nearly glabrous. Leaves 

 2\ by yV~T ^^-i 3-nerved, with transverse cystoliths on the upper 



