Palisota.] cxliii. commelixace^ (clarke). 31 



7. P. ambigua, C. B. Clarke in DC. Moiiogr. Phau. iii. 1 30, t. 5, 

 fig. 3. Young parts shaggy with fulvous hair. Stem 1-2 ft. long, 

 with long internodes. Upper leaves apparently 3-5 in a whorl, 8 by 2 

 in., obovate-lanceolate, when mature nearly glabrate except at the 

 densely fulvous-hairy margins. Peduncle 1-0 in. long; inflorescence 

 2-0 by i-| in., loose, sparingly hairy, 50-lo()-flowered ; bracts hardly 

 \ in. long ; pedicels O-^V in. long, articulated at the base ; buds jW-tV 

 in. in diam., puberulous, many soon falling. Ovary glabrous. Fruit 

 ellipsoid, i by J in., with 2 (rarely 3) seeds in each anticous cell, l-seed 

 in the posticous cell. Seeds superposed, of a metallic blue colour, smooth, 

 the top and bottom seeds pyramidal, the intermediate short cylindric, 

 — Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afr. v. 421 ; Schoenl. in Engl. «fe Prantl, 

 Pflanzenfam. ii. iv. 02, fig. 31, F — H ; Durand & Schinz, Etudes Fl. 

 Congo, i. 208 ; Durand & Wild, in Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg. xxxvi. 87, xxxrv-ii. 

 127 ; Hua in Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xli. p. Iv., and in Bull. Mus. Hist. 

 Nat. Par. i. 119. Commelina ambigua, Beauv. Fl. Owar, i. 20, t. 15. 



Upper Guinea. Lagos ! Musin, Millen, 201 ! Niger Territory : Old Calabar, 

 Rohh ! Cameroons : Rio del Rey, Johnston^ 1 ! 



ILower Guinea. Gaboon : Sierra del Crystal, Mann ! River Gaboon, Mann ! 

 1031 ! Buettner, 506 ! Lower Congo : Bingila, Dv/puis ! Mouth of the Congo, 

 Smith, 63 ! French Congo : Kakomocka, Lecomte. 



South Central. Congo Free State : Lunda ; Mukenje, Pogge ! 



8. P. micrantha, K. Schum. (MS. ?) in Zenker n. 956. Inflores- 

 cence 1 by ^ in. Buds scarcely -^-^ in. in diam. Otherwise as P. 

 ambigua. 



Upper Guinea. Cameroons : Bipinde, Zenker, 956 ! 



The buds are less than half the size of those of P. ambigua at the same stage of 

 development ; still it may be doubted if this is other than a small state of that species. 

 The stem and leaves are exactly the same as in it. 



9. P. thyrsiflora, Benth. in Hook. Niger Fl. 544, excl. syn. 

 Young parts shaggy with fulvous or grey hairs. Stems 3-15 ft. 

 long. Upper leaves apparently opposite or whorled at the distant 

 nodes, attaining 15 by 4 in., lanceolate-obovate or oblong-elliptic, 

 shortly acuminate at the tip, long-cuneate at the base, margins persis- 

 tently and densely hairy, midrib in the mature leaves hairy or glabrous 

 beneath. Panicles often 10 by 2 in., loose, not rarely 2-4 from the 

 uppermost whorl of leaves ; bracts \-\ in. long, lanceolate. Peduncles 

 of the cymes, mostly simple, often J-1 in. long, slender, with a number 

 of adjacent knots at the top, which are the scars whence the pedicels 

 have early fallen ; pedicels O-J^j in. long. Corolla white. Stamens of 

 the genus. Ovary glabrous. Berry \ in. in diam. or rather more, sub- 

 globose or ellipsoid, erect on the arm of the panicle, obtuse, blue, with 

 often 10-16 seeds. Seeds trapezoid, not much flattened, nearly smooth. 

 ~C. B. Clarke in DC. Monogr. Phan. iii. 138, t. 5, fig. 4 ; Durand k 

 Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afr. v. 422 ; Hua in Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Par. i. 

 11 8, and in Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xli. p. Iv. P. ThoUoni, Hua in Bull. Soc. 



