Mechowia,] cvi. amarantace^ (baker and clarke). 37 



reddish. Bracteoles 2, oblong, about J in. long. Perianth-segments J in» 

 long. — Schinz in Engl. Jahrb. xxi. 186 ; Durandtk De Wild, in Comptes- 

 rendus Soc. Bot. Belg. xxxvi. 85 ; Gilg in Baum, Kunene-Samb. 

 Exped. 231, 433, 469. 



KoiRrer Guinea. Angola : Longa Kiver, 4000 ft., Baum, 634 ! 

 South Central. Congo Free State : Mpweto, Descamps. 



7. MRVA, Forsk. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 34. 



Flowers polygamous, monoecious or subdioecious, in dense cylindric 

 or ovoid spikes. Bracts and perianth white or tawny, thin, often pointed^ 

 but very soft, not spinous. Perianth usually of 5 segments, with much 

 fine soft hair. Stamens 5 ; filaments linear, on the staminal tube^ 

 with 5 interposed staminodes (or the tube rudimentary and stamens 

 1-2 only in Jk. hrachiata) ; anthers 2-celled. Ovary ovoid, with 1 ovule 

 on a basal funicle ; style shorter than the ovary, branches 2, oblong or 

 very short. Utricle thin; seed ovoid, flattened ; embryo annular. — Herbs 

 or small shrubs, hairy. Leaves alternate, entire, flat. Spikes axillary,, 

 or running into terminal leafless panicles. 



Species 10 — in the warinei* parts of Africa and Asia. 



The name of this genus has been changed lately to Vretia by O. Kuntze, and 

 then to Ouret, Adans., by Hiern ; then back again to jErva by Torre and Harms in 

 accordance with the Berlin rule of 50 years' user. 



Stem tomentos^ with stellate hair. Inflorescence ter- 

 minal, leafless at the top. 

 Leaves flat, often 2 in. long . . . . .1. jiE. tomentosa. 



Leaves ^ in. long, brown-yellow, recurved . . .2. JE. Ruspolii. 



Stem without stellate hairs, villous or glabrate. 



Upper branches of stem obliquely erect, elongate ; 



spikes in leafless panicles tex*minal on these . . 3. JE. leueura. 



Spikes axillary, or on very short axillary branches ; 

 stamens 5. 

 Stem ending in a leafy linear condensed panicle . 4. ^. lanata. 

 Stem ending in a leafless linear panicle . . .4. ^. lanata, 



var. oblongata. 

 Spikes axillary ; stamens 1-2 . . . . .5. ^.hrachiata. 



1. JE. tomentosa, Forsh. Fl. jEgypt.-Arab. cxxii. caid 170. Stem 

 suberect, 2-4 ft. high, branched, tomentose with stellate and branched 

 hairs. Leaves alternate, 4 by 1 in., woolly when young, often in age 

 glabrate. Spikes of flowers cylindric, 2 by J in., dense, collected in 

 terminal leadess panicles. Flowers J in. long. Bracts and perianth- 

 segments triangular at the tip, hardly mucronate, very soft ; hairs of 

 numerous short cells, minutely papillose. Style- branches oblong, some- 

 times nearly as long as the style. — j£. cegyptiaca, Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1026. 

 jE. incana, Mart, in Nova Acta Nat. Cur. xiii. (1826), 291. jE. javanica, 

 Wight, Ic. t. 876 ; Hook. Niger Fl. 492 ; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind.iv. 727 ; 

 Boiss. Fl. Orient, iv. 992 ; A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss, ii. 214 ; Moquin in 

 DC. Prodr. xiii. ii. 299, partly ; Garcke in Peters, Reise Mossamb. Bot. 



