234 cxviii, THYMELiEACBiB (pearson). [Losiosiphon, 



5-meroiis, sessile on a villous club-shaped receptacle. Calyx-tube 

 densely villous with long light fawn-coloured silky hairs below the 

 articulation, tomentose above, J-f in. long ; lobes broadly oblong or 

 obovate, rounded, silky-villous outside, IJ lin. long, 1 lin. broad. 

 Petals linear or oblong-linear, entire or more or less deeply bifid, very 

 thin, about f as long as the calyx-lobes. Ovary densely villous with 

 erect silky hairs ; disc minute. Fruit not seen. 



Upper Guinea. Togo : Kirikiri, Kersting, 36 ! 



4. ARTHROSOLEN, C. A. Meyer; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PL iii. 193. 



Flowers hermaphrodite. Calyx-tube cylindric, slender, articulated 

 and usually at length breaking across above the level of the ovary, 

 glabrous below the articulation in the Tropical African species ; lobes- 

 4, spreading, naked within at the throat. Petals 0. Stamens 8, in 

 2 whorls, included, with short filaments; anthers oblong or linear. 

 Hypogynous disc 0. Ovary subsessile, 1 -celled ; style filiform ; stigma 

 small, capitate. Fruit small, dry, with a membranous pericarp, 

 enclosed in the persistent base of the calyx-tube. Testa brittle ; 

 albumen scanty or ; cotyledons fleshy. — Virgate or ericoid shrubs. 

 Leaves usually small, narrow, opposite or alternate, crowded or distant. 

 Flowers in usually involucrate spikes or heads, rarely solitary, axillary. 



Species about 20, all in South and Tropical Africa. 



(See also Onidia katangensis, Gilg & Dew., in which the petals are said to be- 

 usually absent.) 



Outer involucral scales linear or narrowly lanceolate . 1. A. chrysantha. 

 Outer iiivolucnil scales broadly ovate or ovate- 

 lanceolate. 

 Calyx-tube finely pubescent above the articulation. 



Calyx-tube ^ in. long 2. A. Poggei. 



Calyx-tube 5 iii. long 3. A. sphcerantha. 



Calyx-tube silky-villous above tbe ai-ticulation , 4. A. Newtonii. 



Calyx- tube glabrous, glabrescent or sparsely puberu- 

 lous above tbe articulation. 



Heads 3Q-40- flowered 5. ,4. dekindtiana. 



Heads 5-6-flowered Q. A. pleurocephala. 



Calyx-tube jjubescent or villous below tbe articu- 

 lation. 

 Involucral bracts distinctly shorter than the flowers 7. A.fulgens. 

 Iiivolticral bracts equalliiig or slightly exceeding 



the flowers 8. A.foliosa. 



1. A. chrysantha, Solms-Laub. ex Schweinfurth, Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 

 1G5. A shrub |-2 ft. high, glabrous, glaucescent, with numerous erect 

 simple or little- branched stems arising from a woody rootstock. Leaves 

 scattered, erect, linear, acute, 1-nerved, about J in. long. Heads 

 terminal, solitary, many-flowered ; involucral bracts ovate (outer ones 

 narrower), acuminate, glabrous, shorter than the flowers. Flowers 



