Pistia.] CL. AROIDE.E (brown). 141 



Niger, barter, 3244 (ex JEngler). Lower Niger: Ibu (Abo), Voqel, 12! Cross 

 Iviver, Holland, 233 ! Cameroans : Mungo, Bucholz ! Bipinde, Zenker, 1167 ! 

 and without precise locality, Preuss, 1361 ! Lake Chad, Vof/el, 41 ! 



Xrile Ziand. Upper Sennar : near Fazokl, KoUchy, 461 ! 7^]thiopia, Kotschy, 

 196! White Nile, Schioeinfurth^ 1061 j 1100! 1111 ! Petherick ! Speke Sf Grant ! 

 British East Africa : Taita; Ndara Mountain, Htldehrandt,2ZoQ\ 



Xioxirer Guinea. Lower Congo, Hens, Demense (ex Durand Sf Schinz) ; 

 Stanley Pool, Lnja, (ex Wildeman ^ Biirand). Angola ; Icolo e Bengo ; in lakes 

 around Prata, Welwifsch, 'Zl^l Pungo Andongo ; by the sides of tlie River Cuige, 

 near Quibinda, Welioitsch, 215 ! Aitibriz ; stagnant places around Quizemba, Wel- 

 witsch, 216 ! Golungo Alto; near Sange, in stagnant places by the banks of the 

 River Quiapoze, Welwitseh, 217 I and Mossamedes ; in lakes at the mouth of the 

 River Giraui, Welwitseh, 218! pools at Pedra Grande, Newton (ex Hoffmann)-^ 

 mouth of the Kuango River, Descamps (ex Engler). 



VSozamb. Hist. Portuguese East Africa : Zambesi Delta ; in the River 

 Luabo, Kirk ! east coast of Lake Nyasa, Johnson, 146a ! British Central Africa : 

 Nyasaland ; Blantyre. Descamps (ex Dewevre). 



South Central. Congo Free State ; Kasai River, Luja (ex Wildeman. ^ 

 Durand). 



Widely distributed in the warmer regions of both hemispheres. 



2. SAUROMATUM, Schott ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. 

 PI. iii. 066. 



Spabhe very long, its margins connate below, forming a cylindric 

 tube, inflated at the base, withering in fruit ; limb 3-4 times as long 

 as the tube, narrow, tapering, usually more or less convolute towards 

 the apex. Spadix free, shorter than the spathe, monoecious, sessile, 

 bearing the male and female flowers in short cylindric very distant 

 spikes and several spreading clavate or filiform neuter organs above 

 the female spike, terminated by a very long terete appendix. Perianth 

 none. Anthers densely crowded, sessile, compressed, opening by apical 

 pores. Ovaries densely crowded, ovoid, 1-celled ; stigma small, sub- 

 sessile ; ovules 2-4, erect from a basal placenta, orthotropous. Berries 

 numerous, in a globose head, obovoid, somewhat flattened at the apex. 

 Seed spheroid or flattened on one side, apiculate ; testa thin ; albumen 

 copious ; embryo axile. — Herbs with a depressed-globose rootstock, 

 flowering before the leaves appear. Leaf solitary, long-petioled, peda- 

 tisect. Peduncle short, not rising much above the surface of the 

 ground. Spathe spotted and often bordered with dark brownish- 

 purple. 



Species 3 or 4, or perhaps all forms of one species. One in India, one iu 

 Sumatra, and the following. 



Neuter organs terete or slightly clavate . . .1. S. nubicum. 



Neuter organs filiform . . . . . . 2. S. angolense. 



1. S. nubicum, Schott^ Syn. Avoid. 25. Leaf solitary, pedatisect ; 

 petiole 1-1 J ft. long, glabrous ; segments of the blade 7, broadly oblan- 

 ceolate, acuminate, narrowed towards the base where they are more or 

 less connected; middle segment about 9 in. long, 3^-4 in. broad, the 



