Xl/i'is.] CXLII. XYRIDEiE (bROWN). 23 



apiculate, light chestnut-brown, the inner with a stout usually daiK green 

 keei ; nerves very indistinct, very niender and irregular. Lateral sepals 

 lJ-2 lin. long, J lin. broad, talcate-lanceolate, obtuse, boat-shaped, 

 brown along the back, fading to light yellowish- brown on the sides; 

 keel winged, minutely ciliolate along the middle part only, not produced 

 at the apex. Flowers not seen. Capsule obovoid, trigonous. 



Upper Cruiuea. Niger Territory: Nupe, Barter ! 



Allied to X. annularis, N. E. Br., but dilfering in its comprebBCd (i»ot acutely 

 angled) peduncles, the absence of a dorsal area on the bracts, and other cnaracters. 



28. X. batokana, J^, E. Br. Tutted on a stout rootstock, 

 emitting thick roots. Leaves 4-8 in. (or more ?) long, |-1 ^ lin. broad, 

 linear, very acute, rigid, striate, otten twisted, glabrous. Peduncular- 

 sheath '2.^-4: in. long, with a rigid acute point about 3 iin. long, giaorous. 

 Peduncle Ih-- tt. long, about § lin. thick, subterete, very smooth and 

 slightly shining, not striate, glabrous ; pith not hollow at tbe centre. 

 Spike 4-5 lin. long, '^-3J in. thick, ellipsoid or suogiobose, about 50- 

 fiowered. Bracts l|-2;^ lin. loijg, IJ-IJ Hn. broad, elliptic or eliiptic- 

 oblong, very obtuse, neither apiculate nor keeled, 5-7-nerved, chestnut- 

 brown, with an indistinct slightly paler lanceolate dorsal area, glabrous, 

 not ciliolate ; nerves reticulated at their apex. Lateral sepals 2 lin. 

 long, nearly J lin. broad, linear-faicate, acutely keeled, brown, paier 

 towards the margins ; keel very distinctly ciiiate from a little above the 

 base to the minutely apiculate apex. Corolla yellow ; tube aoout 2 lin. 

 long ; lobes 2 lin. long, 1 lin. broad, cuneace-obovate, denticulate. Arms 

 of the staminodes small, bearing a tuft of comparatively few (20-25) 

 hairs. Anthers oblong. 



ntosamb. Hist. British Central Africa : Northern Kiiodesia ; BatoKa High- 

 lands, Kirk ! 



This niuch resembles X. nitida, Niiss., but the very smootn peduucies aod aosence 

 of cilia on the braces readily distinguish it. 



29. X, cosigensis, Biliiner in Verhandl. JBot. Ver. Brandenb. xxxi. 

 7 1 . Leaves up to 1 ft. long, 1-2 lin. broad, linear, slightly scabrous, 

 striate, with dark brown sheaths. Peduncle 2-3 times as loug as the 

 leaves, compressed, smooth. Spike 5 lin. long, 2j lin. thick, about '^O- 

 flowered. Bracts 2| lin. long, broadly obovate, rounded at tne apex, 

 ciliolate, chestnut-brown with a greyish dorsal area. Lateral sepals 

 shorter than the bracts, boat-shaped, keeled, hyaline, pale luseous, with 

 a golden hue, the apex and keel darker ; keei narrowly winged, ciiiate. 

 Corolla- lobes IJ lin. long, | lin. broad, truncate, irregularly and shortly 

 denticulate, yellow. — Nilss. in Svensk. Vet, Akad. Handl. xxiv. no. 14, 

 29 ; Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afr. v. 420, and Etudes PI. Congo, 

 i. 268. 



South Central. Congo Free State : on the lett bank of the River Congo, 

 between Lukolela and Equatorville, Biiitner, 583. 



1 have not seen this, but possibly X. nitida, Nilss., nmy he the same plwnt. 



