126 xcviii. ACANTHACE^ (clarke) [Lepidogathts. 



The long brown scabrous curved points of the floral leaves and the dense 

 white fringe of long wliite hairs on the shoulder of the sepals make this species 

 remarkable. It is very rare in Lepidagathis for the 2 innermost sepals to be as long 

 as the others. 



14. L. mollis^ T. Anders, in Jowni. Linn. Soc. vii. 33. Branches 



2 ft. long, and mature leaves with simple hairs. Leaves 3 by \ in., 

 3-nerved, with transverse cystoliths on the upper surface. Inflorescences 

 of basal and axillary clusters of heads ; points of the floral leaves and 

 posticous sepals erect, soft white-hairy, hardly prickly. Posticous sepal 

 ^ in. long, lanceolate with a long hairy linear tip. Corolla | in. long, 

 yellow with purple spots. Stamens of Eu-Lepidagathis. Ovary slightly 

 hairy in the upper half. — Lindau in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. 



3 B. 313 partly? 



Upper Guinea, ^iger Territory : Nupe, Barter, 955 ! Niger, Baikie ! 



15. la. diversa, C. B. Clarke. Branches stout, minutely hairy. 

 Leaves up to 5 by J in., 5-nerved. Inflorescences axillary, 2 in in 

 diam., very dense, points of floral leaves long, numerous, pale-brown, 

 hairy, strongly deflexed. Sepals 5, all |-j in. long, with falcately 

 recurved points. Corolla nearly as of L. mollis. — L. mollis^ Oliv. in 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. xxix. 128 ; Lindau in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 368. 



Nile Z.and. British East Africa : Madi, Speke Sf Grant, 657 ! 



Oliver treated this as a form only of L. mollis ; and in essentials it does not diflTer ; 

 nor, in essentials, do many of the species of Eu-Lepidagathis differ. The appearance of 

 the present plant, owing to the falcate-recurved (" diverse ") tips of floral leaves and 

 sepals, is very different ; the sepals are larger. 



11). L. and ersoniana, Lindau in Engl. Jahrh. xx. 16. Branches 

 stout, shaggy. Leaves 3 by J- J in., 3-nerved, when mature white-villous 

 or glabrate beneath, nearly glabrous above, with transverse cystoliths. 

 Inflorescence of many compound dense shaggy-white heads 1-3 in. in 

 diam., approximated in the upper axils, sometimes subterminal (then 

 somewhat elongate with recurved points approaching L. Medusce). 

 Posticous sepal ^ by \ in., elliptic-lanceolate, with a long white-hairy point. 

 Corolla ^ in. long. Stamens of Eu-Lepidagathis. Ovary with gland- 

 tipped hairs at the top and long white hairs on the lower part of the 

 style. — L. Andersonii, Lindau in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 368 



srile Zaand. British East Africa: Bug;inda (Uganda), Stuhlmann, 3525! 



l«Iozamb. Dlst. German East Africa: Urundi, 4000-6000 ft., Scott-Elliot, 

 8259! British Central Africa: Nyas.iland; Fort Hill, :3500-4000 fc, Whyte ! 

 Mount Zomba, 5000-6000 ft., Whyte ! Shire Highlands, Buchanan, 76 ! 325 ! and 

 without precise locality, Buchanan, 774 ! 832 ! 



17. L. heudelotiana, Nees in DC. Prod. xi. 254. Branch 14 in. 

 long, nearly glabrate. Leaves 3-4 by \ in., 3-nerved. hairy. Spikes 

 compound, 1^ by | in., erect, very dense, in the upper axils; floral 

 leaves uniseriate, ovate with linear deflexed points long white-hairy. 



