170 CL. AROiDE^ (brown). [^NephthijUs. 



»ipple-like. Ovule solitary, basal, erect, anatropous. Anthers sessile, 

 crowded, cuoeate-oblong, truncate, 2 -celled ; cells separated by. a thick 

 connective, opening by apical pores. Berries obovoid or ellipsoid, 1 -seeded. 

 Seed ellipsoid or obovoid erect, testa very thin ; albumen copious; embryo 

 very small, seated at the base of the albumen. — Herbs with a stout creep- 

 ing rhizome. Leaves few, with long erect petioles, sagittate or hastate, 

 reticulately veined. Peduncles 1 or 2, from the apex of the rhizome, 

 about as long as the petioles, erect. Spathe green. — Oligogynium^ Engl. 

 Jahrb. iv. 64, zv. 452 ; Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. ii. iii. 129. 

 Species 4, eiulemic. 



Engler, in liis Hot. Jahrb. xv. 451, has correctly pointed out that tlie description 

 I gave in the Gardeners' Chronicle, 1881, xv. 790, of the position of the ovules of 

 Nephthytis, is erroneous. My original sketch of the ovary of N. liberica, which I 

 now find to be the same as N. Afzelii, Schott, represents the ovule pendulous from 

 near the apex of the ovary, as described, hut whether this drawing truly represents 

 an abnormal ovary, or is the result of an error of observation on my part, I am unable 

 to Srfy, but I suspect the latter. For it is quite certain that the normal position of 

 the ovule in Nephthytis is erect from the base of the ovary, since I have never found 

 another ovary witli a pendulous ovule. Schott, who founded the genus Nephthytis 

 upon a fruiting specimen of N. Afzelii, apparently lell into the same error with 

 regard to the position of the seed of the plant he examined, since I find the ovule of 

 N. Afzelii to be basal or sub-basal and erect, and there is not the slightest reason for 

 maintaining Oligogynium, Engl., as in any way distinct from Nephthytis. 



Since the above was written, Engler (in Engler & Prantl, Ptlanzenfam. Nachtr. 

 -2U ii.-iv. 60) has expressed the same opinion. 



Leaves very much constricted above the basal-lobes, 

 sagittately 3-lobed ; spadix subsessile or with a 

 stipes not more than 1 lin. long . . . . \. N. constricta. 



Leaves slightly or not at all constricted above the basal 

 lobes. 

 Spadix stipitate ; stigma small on a short nipple-like 



style . . . . . . . . 2. N. Poissoni. 



Spadix sessile ; stigma large, discoid, sessile . . 3. N. Afzelii. 



1. N. constricta, N. E. Br. in Gard. Chron. 1881, xv. 790. 

 Rhizome creeping, about ^ in. thick. Leaves 2-3 at the apex of the 

 rhizome, erect, glabrous; petiole 1-2 ft. long, 1-2 lin. thick; blade 

 sagittate, 8-lobed or very much constricted above the basal lobes ; front 

 lobe 4-7 in. long, 1 J-3J in. broad, oblong or ovate-oblong, acuminate ; 

 basal lobes 6-8^ in. long, 1|-3J in. broad, obliquely lanceolate or 

 oblong-lanceolate, acuminate into a long point ; nerves of the basal 

 lobes denuded for 5-10 lin. in the narrow^ parabolic sinus. Peduncle 

 4J-15 in. long, rather slender, glabrous. Spathe lJ-2 in. long, oblong, 

 subulate-acuminate, decurrent on the peduncle for 5-6 lin. at the base, 

 expanded, with revolute margins, widely spreading, green. Spadix 

 subsessile or with a stipes not more than 1 lin. long, J-1 in. long, about 

 2 lin. thick. Ovary globose ; style short, nipple-like, hardened in the 

 dried state ; stigma very small. — OligoyynuTn consirictum, Engl. Jahrb. 

 XV. 453 ; Durand <fe Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afr. v. 47 G. 



Upper Guinea. Cameroons : Rio del Rey, Johnston ! Bataiiga, Braun (ex 

 Angler) ; and without precise locality, Bucholz, 93 ! Fernando Po, Mann, 106 ! 



The stigma is not broadly discoid as stated by Engler in Engl. Jahrb. xv. 452. 



