Dicrceanthus.] ex. podostemace^ (baker and weight). 127 



1. D. a.frica.TiU3y Bngl. ijijEngl. Jah'b. xxxviii.dG, Jig. 1. Thallus 

 many-lobed. Stems sometimes over 3 ft. long, 3-4 lin. thick, terete 

 below ; branches angular. Leaves on one side of the branches, cuneate, 

 deeply divided into narrowly linear acute segments. Cymes opposite 

 the leaves, lower G-20-flowered, upper 1-5-flowered ; bracts small, very 

 narrowly linear or sometimes the lowest ovate, acute. Spathellae 

 subcylindrical, slightly curved at the apex, splitting up one side, 3-4 

 lin. long, 1 lin. in diam. ; pedicel inflexed in bud, at length 2-3 in. 

 long. Perianth-segments linear, acute, 1 lin. long. Filaments free, 

 1 lin. long; anthers narrowly linear, emarginate at both ends, IJ lin. 

 long. Gynophore J-IJ lin. long. Ovary long-clavate, 3 lin. long; 

 stigmas small, subulate. Capsule 4 lin. long, pale brown. 



Upper Guinea. Camerooiis : on submerged rocks at the North Falls near Edea^ 

 Winkler, 901. 



South Central. Congo Free State : Moplnga-Lulua Island, Pogge^ 1431. 

 Native name '' saule." 



2. D. pusillusy C. //. Wright. Stem about 9 lin. high. Leaves- 

 petioled, about 7 lin. long, subdichotomously divided into 3-5 very 

 narrowly linear obtuse segments, slightly sheathing and with a small 

 tooth-like stipule on each side at the base. Spathellse almost sessile, 

 irregularly bursting at the apex ; flowers involute in bud ; pedicel 

 about twice as long as the spathella. Filaments united about half-way ; 

 anthers broadly oblong, slightly separated at the obtuse or almost 

 quadrate apex. Ovary ellipsoid ; styles 2, obtuse. Fruit ellipsoid, 

 1-celled, about 1 lin. long. — SphcEvothylax pusilla. Warming in Kgl. 

 Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Skrifter, ser. G, ix. ii. 146, fig. 39. 



XTpper Guinea. Cameroons : Bipinde, at the Lokundje rapids, on submerged 

 stems in the centre of the stream, Zenker, 1050 ! 



7. SPHJEROTHYLAX, BischofF; Benth. et Hook, 

 f. Gen. PI. iii. 113. 



Flowers hermaphrodite, subtended by 2 minute scales. Stamens 2 ; 

 filaments united to the apex; anthers 2, sessile at the top of the 

 column, 2-celled, or solitary and 4-celled according to Weddell, dehis- 

 cence longitudinal. Staminodia 2, small, linear. Ovary ovoid, 8- 

 ribbed ; valves 2, unequal, the larger persistent, the smaller deciduous. 

 Seeds ellipsoid, compressed. — Stems slender and branched, arising from 

 a Marchantia-like base. Leaves elongate, laciniate. Spathellae pro- 

 duced both on the thallus and on the elongated stems. — AnastropJieay 

 Wedd. in DC. Prodr. xvii. 78. 

 Species 4, one in South Africa. 

 Rhachis of inflorescence densely covered with fimbriate 



scales . . . . . . . . . 1. S. tcarmingiana. 



Rhachis of inflorescence not scale-bearing. 



Flowers clustered on the erect stems . . 2. S. ahi/ssinica. 



Flowers solitary on the erect stems 3. S. heteromorpha. 



