Donax.] cxxxiv. scitamine^ (baker). 315 



7. DONAX, Lour. ; Schumann in Engl. Jahrb. xv. 434. 



Sepals 3, free, linear-oblong, equal, scariose, persistent. Petals 3, 

 convolute, spreading at the tip. Staminodia united in a tube at 

 the base ; lobes petaloid, very irregular. Lip obovate, keeled inside ; 

 staminiferous lobe narrow, with the 1 -celled anther adnaie to it on one 

 side. Ovary 3-celled; cells 1-ovuled; style adnate below to the 

 staminal tube, involute. Stigma dilated. Fruit indehiscent, globose 

 or compressed, 1-3-seeded. Seeds subglobose, with an aril and a 

 horseshoe-shaped embryo. — Rhizome tuberous or woody. Stems long, 

 slender, erect, leafy, branched. Leaves oblong, cuspidate, with a long 

 sheath and short free petiole. Flowers in lax terminal panicles, small, 

 fugitive, white, yellow or blue ; bracts cylindrical, not usually im- 

 bricated. — Clinogyne, Salisb. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 651. 



Species about twelve, the others in Tropical Asia. 



Flowers comparatively large. 



Bracts not imbricated . . . . . . 1. D. cuspidata. 



Bracts imbricated . . . . . . . 2. D. arillata. 



Flowers comparatively small. 



Pairs of flowers single . . . . . . 3. Z). azurea. 



Pairs of flowers many to a branch. 



Fruit lobed, 3-seeded ...... 4. D.jilipes. 



Fruit globose, usually 2-seeded. 

 Leaves small. 



Fruit glabrous . . . . . . 5. J), oliganiha. 



Fruit pubescent . . . . . . 6. JD. congensis. 



Leaves large. 

 Bracts glabrous. 



Free tip of petiole \-\ in. long . . . 7. D. ugandensU. 



Free tip of petiole 1 in. long . . . 8. -D. leucantha. 



Bracts pubescent . . . . . 9. J>. purpurea. 



1. D. cuspidata, Schumann in Engl. Jahrh. xv. 440. Stems 

 glabrous, stramineous, reaching a length of 10—12 ft. ; nodes pubescent. 

 Leaves oblong, conspicuously cuspidate, reaching a length of 1 ft. or 

 more and a breadth of 5-6 in., moderately firm, glabrous, rounded at 

 the base, variegated with pinnate streaks of white ; lower sheaths \ ft. 

 or more long ; free thickened apex of petiole |-1 in. long. Inflorescence 

 copiously panicled ; sheaths cylindrical, glabrous, Ij in. long. Flowers 

 in pairs, one on a long pedicel. Ovary densely silky. Sepals oblong- 

 lanceolate, J in. long. Staminodia obovate, deep purple or yellow, 

 twice as long as the calyx. Fruit globose, often 3-seeded. — Maranta 

 cusjndata, Rose. Scit. t. 31 ; Donax schweinfurthiana, Schumann in 

 Engl. Jahrb. xv. 437; Arundastruin schweinfurthianum, Kuntzc, Revis. 

 Gen. 684. 



xrpper Guinea. Sierra Leone : Heddle's Farm, Scott-Elliot, 3900 ! Duunia, 

 in shady woods, Scott-Elliot, 4820 ! Nienia, in woods. Scott-Elliot, 1902 ! Bagru 

 River, Mann, 901! Ashanti : Assin-Yan-Coomassie, Ctnnmins, 210! 2391 Gold 

 Coast: Basin of the River Volta; between Maikera and Bame, KrausG ! between 



