130 ex. PODOSTEMACE.E ( BAKER AND WRIGHT). [Ilydrostachys. 



3. H. polymorpha, Klotzsch in Peters^ Reise Mossamh. Bot. 506, 

 U. 52-53. Stem short, tuberous, perennial. Leaves tufted, pinnate 

 or slightly bipinnate, variable in outline but usually more or less oblong 

 or ligulate, 1-3 ft. long, 1-3 in. broad, verrucose on the lower part cf 

 the petiole, the imbricate protuberances becoming larger upwards on 

 the rhachis, those on the final divisions of the leaf lanceolate and H by 

 i lin., or palmately divided, or pinnately lacerated. Male spikes dense, 

 with spreading orbicular bracts ; female clustered, cylindrical, 1 J-G in. 

 long ; bracts elliptic, very concave, with the upper margin sharply 

 reflexed, 1 J lin. long, minutely verrucose, longitudinally ribbed when 

 dry ; peduncle up to G in. long, black verrucose. Style-arms \\ lin. long, 

 curved. Capsule fitting into the concavity of the bract, pilose outside. 

 Seeds ellipsoid, \ lin. long, bright brown. — Wedd. in DC. Prodr. xvii. 89. 

 H. cristulata, Wedd. I.e. H, natalensiSj Wedd. I.e. 88. H. muUipinnata^ 

 Engl. Jahrb. xx. 137. 



Mozamb. Dist. Portuguese East Africa: Makua country; Xamuli, Last! 

 British Central Africa : Nyasaland ; near Blantyre, Last ! Shire Highlands, 

 Adamson, 9 ! Mandala, Scott-Elliot, 8562 ! Zomba, Purves, 168 ! in a river 

 flowing into the Shire north of ^ Shibisa, Kirk ! and without precise locality, 

 Buchanan, 956 ! 



Imperfecthj known species. 



4. H. Bismarckiiy E7igl. Jahrh. xx. 137. Leaves multipinnate, 

 12-16 in. long, l|-2^ in. wide; protuberances on the rhachis spathu- 

 late in the lower part, linear and obtuse or acute above ; ultimate 

 divisions densely clothed with patent narrowly linear-subulate very 

 acute protuberances; petiole 6-8 in. long. Male spike \\ in. long, 

 3 lin. in diam. ; bracts broadly deltoid and unguiculate, twice as long 

 as the stamens ; peduncle \ 'or J as long as the leaves. 



ZiOwer Guinea. Angola : on stones in a strong stream at the Bismarck Falls 

 on the Ri\er Quango, Teuscz, 506. 



Order CXL CYTINACE^. (By J. G. Baker, 

 with additions by C. H. Wright.) 



Flowers regular, hermaphrodite or unisexual. Perianth simple, 

 sometimes fleshy ; tube adnate to the ovary and often produced above 

 it, solid in the male flowers ; lobes 3-10, imbricate or valvate, 1-2-seriate. 

 Stamens 8 to many, free or united ; anthers surrounding a central 

 column and dehiscing by apical slits, or forming a lobed ring inside the 

 perianth-tube with long sinuous cells like those of some Cuciirbitacece, 

 dehiscing longitudinally but folded so that the slits are near together 

 and across the ring. Ovary inferior, 1 -celled; placentas parietal or 

 numerous and pendulous from the top of the cell, entirely covered with 

 ovules ; stigma sessile, flat or cushion-like, lobed. Fruit a berry, globose 

 or turbinate. Seeds minute, albuminous; embryo small. — Fleshy root 

 or branch parasite.*, leafless or with the leaves reduced to scales. 



