326 cxxxiv. sciTAMiNE^ (baker). [Phryuium. 



Inflorescence a simple spike produced 1-2 from each branch a short 

 distance below the leaf -blade ; bract cylindrical, glabrous, | in. long ; 

 peduncle 2-flowered, protruding beyond the tip of the bract, one flower 

 sessile, the other pedicellate. Flower and fruit unknown. 

 Upper Guinea. Cameroons : River Cameroon, Mann, 2142 ! 



IG. P. ramosissimum, Benth. in Hook. Niger Fl. 532. Stems 

 branched, 6-12 ft. long. Leaf oblong-cuspidate, moderately firm, 

 glabrous, 6-10 in. long, 3-4 in. broad, rounded at the base; petiole 

 sheathing the branch nearly to the top ; cylindrical apical callus under 

 J in. long. Spikes 1-3, shortly pedunculate, 4-6 in. long, ascending or 

 recurved ; bracts oblong-navicular, 1-1 1 in. long ; peduncles 2-flowered, 

 as long as the bract. Ovary densely villous. Sepals lanceolate, | in. 

 long. Petals twice as long as the calyx. Staminodia not longer than 

 the petals. Fruit globose, 3-seeded, \ in. diam. — Horan. Prodr. 11. 



Upper Guinea. Senegambia, Heudelot, 729 ! Sierra Leone : Scarcies River ; 

 near Kambia, Scott-Elliot, 4196 ! and near Tawia, Scott-Elliot, 4473b ! on the way 

 to Port Lokko, Scott -Elliot, 5877 ! Niger Territory : Nupe, Barter, 1542 iFernando 

 Po, 3Iann, 100! 1174! Barter, 1544! Vogel, 165! 178! Cameroons: River 

 Cameroon, Mann, 2141 ! 



JmO-wct Guinea. Angola : Bembe, and common in all the interior, Monteiro ! 



17. P. sulphureum, Baker. Stem erect, simple, bearing in its 

 upper part three leaves with long sheathing petioles (lowest 6 in. long) 

 and a cylindrical apical callus \ in. long ; blade oblong, unequal-sided, 

 cuspidate, 5-6 in. long, 2-2| in. broad, moderately firm, glabrous, 

 unequally rounded at the base. Inflorescence a small crowded erect 

 panicle springing from the hairy sheath of the topmost leaf a short 

 distance below the blade ; bracts cylindrical, pubescent, ^ in. long. 

 Peduncle 2-flowered, protruded from the tip of the bract ; one flower 

 sessile, the other pedicellate. Flowers light yellow. Fruit unknown. 



Ziower Guinea. Gaboon : Sierra del Crystal, Mann, 1643 ! 



11. CAIiATHEA, G. F. Meyer; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PL iii. 653. 



Sepals 3, free, equal, imbricate. Corolla-tube shorter or longer 

 than the calyx; lobes 3, spreading, oblong. Staminodia united in a 

 tube at the base ; lip broad, not crested inside ; staminiferous lobe 

 narrow or broad, with the 1 -celled anther adnate to one side. Ovary 

 3-celled ; cells 1-ovuled ; style adnate at the base to the staminal tube, 

 hooked at the lip ; stigma 2-valved. Fruit ovoid or 3-lobed ; pericarp 

 usually thin. Seeds usually 3, erect, ovoid, with a reflexed aril and 

 horseshoe-shaped embryo. — Spikes terminal on a long stem in the 

 centre of a rosette of leaves, or on a short leafless stem arising from the 

 rhizome. Leaves often variegated. Flowers usually several to each 

 primary bract. 



Species 50 or more, all the others Tropical American. 



