410 cxix. LORANTHACE^ (sprague). [Viscum. 



1 or 3 flowers, each of which is borne by a bracteal cup. Bracteal cup 

 very shortly peduncled, deeply 2-lobed ; lobes diverging at rather less 

 than a right angle, broadly boat-shaped, acuminate or apiculate, |-| lin. 

 long, yg-J lin. broad, minutely ciliate ; peduncle about J lin. long. 

 Petals broadly ovate, J lin. long, f lin. broad. Female inflorescence 

 consisting of 1-3 flowers, each of which is borne by a bracteal cup. 

 Bracteal cup transverse, very deeply 2-lobed ; lobes diverging at less 

 than a right angle, shortly and broadly boat-shaped, f lin. long, y^ lin. 

 broad, J lin. deep, minutely ciliolate, equalling the receptacle at the 

 time of expansion of the flower. Receptacle shortly subcylindric, 

 slightly compressed, rounded at the base, | lin. long, f lin. broad at the 

 apex. Petals narrowly triangular, ^ lin. long, | lin. broad at the base. 

 Style broadly conical, J-J lin. long; stigma projecting f lin. above the 

 insertion of the petals. Berry subglobose, about 1^ lin. in diam. — 

 Thunb. Fl. Cap. ed. Schult. 154 ; DC. Prodr. iv. 283; Harv. in Harv. 

 *t; Sond. Fl. Cap. ii. 581, partly; Engl, in Engl. Jahrb. xix. 131; xx. 

 131 : Schinz in Bull. Herb. Boiss. iv. App. iii. 55 ; Bolus it Wolley-Dod 

 in Trans. S. Afr. Phil. Soc. xiv. 31G. Asjndixia capensis, Van Tiegh. 

 in Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xliii. 193. 



ZiO'wer Guinea. Gorman South-west Africa : Damaraland ; Okombalie, GiiricA, 

 5; Otyitsi,mhi, G iii- ick ; Usakos, Giirich, 



Also in South Africa. In German South-west Africa it is said to be usually 

 parasitic on Acacia alhida, Delile, and other Mimosece. In the Cajie Peninsula, 

 according to liolus and Wolley-Dod, it is found on various low shrubs, chieHy Hhut, 

 often at ground level. 



All the male tiowers examined were abnormal, having in their centre a mass 

 apparently composed of the four anthers fused together. 



Harvey, I.e., confused V. continuum, E. Meyer, with V. capense. T. continuum 

 may be distinguished by its pedicelled berries and large rounded lateral scales, which 

 are connate posticously. 



25. V. Menyharthii, Engl, d- Schinz in Schinz, Fl. Menyharth. 44. 

 Branches stout, subterete, longitudinally wrinkled in a dried state, 1^-2 

 lin. in diam. ; branchlets more or less compressed ; internodes j-lj in. 

 long. Flowers dioecious, tetramerous. Male plant unknown. Female 

 plant : Flowers 2-3 together, or 4-5, one or both of the lateral flowers 

 being replaced by a group of two, each flower borne by a 2-lobed bracteal 

 cup. Bracteal cup slightly shorter than the receptacle at the time of 

 expansion of the flower. Berry sessile, in a young state ellipsoid-oblong, 

 «hghtly compressed, 2 J lin. long, 1^ lin. broad, finely warted ; stigma 

 projecting |-^ lin. above the scars of the petals. — V. Menyhartii, Engl, 

 in Engl. Jahrb. xl. 541. V. ven'ncosum, L. S. Gibbs in Journ. Linn. 

 Soc. xxxvii. 4G8, not of Harv. 



XVXozamb. Distr. Portuguese East Africa: Lower Zambesi; at Chindindi, 

 near Horoina, on Combreiiim sp., Menyharth ! Khodesia: Matoppo Hills, on Croton 

 f/ratissinius, Burch., Mias Gibbs, 16 ! 



26. V. xnatabelense, Engl, in Engl. Jahrb. xl. 542. A much- 

 branched shrub about 3 ft. in diam. Branches subterete, longitudinally 



