846 cxxxvi. iRiDE^ (baker). [Romulea. 



late, acuminate, purple outside. Perianth nearly sessile, 1 in. long, 

 purple with a golden -yellow throat ; segments subacute, 4 in. broad. 

 Stamens half as long as the perianth. Style overtopping the anthers. 

 —Harms in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 147. 



Ifflle Dtand. British East Africa : Abori, Fischer, 587. 



No specimen in the Kew Herbarium. 



5. ARISTEA, Ker ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 701. 



Perianth membranous, with a short cylindrical tube and subequal 

 oblong segments, twisting up spirally after flowering. Stamens inserted 

 at the throat of the perianth -tube ; filaments short, free, filiform; 

 anthers erect, linear-oblong. Ovary 3-celled, oblong or cylindrical ; 

 ovules many, superposed ; style filiform, with 3 small obovate branches, 

 stigmatose round the edge. Capsule oblong or cylindrical, obtusely or 

 acutely angled, loculicidally 3-valved. Seeds globose or angled by 

 pressure. — Herbs with narrow rigid leaves in a distichous basal rosette 

 (the Tropical African species). Peduncle flat or subterete. Flowers 

 clustered, fugitive, usually blue ; spathes oblong, the outer valves firm, 

 the inner membranous. 



Species 30, the others in South Africa and the Mascarene Islands. 



Stem compressed, but not winged. 



Clusters of flowers 1-2 ...... 1. A.johnstoniana. 



Clusters of flowers 4—5 . . . . , . 2. A. zomhensis. 



Clusters of flowers 6-8 ...... 3. A. angolensis. 



Stem narrowly winged. 



Stem-leaves 1-2, small . . . . , . 4:. A. nandiensis. 



Stem-leaves 5-G, large . . . . . . h. A. nylkensis. 



Stems distinctly winged throughout. 



Clusters of flowers 1-2 . . , . . . 6. A. alata. 



Clusters of flowers 3-4; . . . . . .7. A. paniculata. 



1. A. johnstoniana, Rendle in Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, Bot. iv. 48. 

 Leaves many in a basal rosette, linear, rigid, 6-10 in. long, ^ in. broad. 

 Peduncle as long as the leaves, slender, compressed but not winged, 

 simple, bearing 1-2 terminal clusters of flowers, leafless or furnished 

 with a single reduced leaf above the middle. Spathe oblong ; valves 

 equal, oblong, J in. long or the outer longer and acute, green with a 

 scariose margin. Perianth J in. long, shortly stipitate. Capsule not 

 seen. 



Mozamb. Dist. British Central Africa : Mount Mlanje, Whyte ! McClounie, 

 79! 



2. A. zombensiSy Baker. E-adical leaves 5-6 to a stem, linear, 

 rigid, strongly ribbed, 1 foot long, \ in broad. Stem above 1 foot long, 

 angled, not winged, bearing 3-4 distant leaves, the upper very small 

 and remote from the flowers. Inflorescence ^i 4-5 clusters, the lowest 

 with a short erecto-patent peduncle, the others sessile ; outer bracts 



