Eriocaulon.] cliv. euiocaule^ (buown). 251 



hairs at the apex. Stipes between the sepals and petals J .', lin. long. 

 Petals unequal, ovate-lanceolate, acute, white, glandless, ("iliute, the 

 largest not more than -|-^ lin. long. Anthers blackish. Seeds J lin. 

 long, ellipsoid, white-reticulate. — Ruhland in Engl. Jahrb. xxvii. K2. 



upper Guinea. Sierra Leoue : hi marshes at Kitchoin, near the month of ihe 

 River Scai-cies, Scott-Elliot, 4339! and without precise local'.ty, Jfzelius ! Ni^er 

 Territory : Nupe ; in swamps about Jeha, Barter, 1019 I 



24:. E. plumale, iV. /i'. Br. Stemless. Leaves numerous, in a 

 radical rosette, J-J in. long, ^-^ lin. broad, linear, tapering to a very 

 fine point, o-nerved, glabrous. Peduncles several to a plant, o-G in. 

 long, terete, 5-6-ribbed, glabrous; their sheaths f-H in. long, acute, 

 glabrous. Heads 2-3 lin. in diam., at first globose, afterwards elongating 

 and becoming oblong, monoecious, with the sexes intermixed, white, very- 

 woolly in appearance. Involucral- bracts about 1 lin. long and broad, 

 elliptic or orbicular, very obtuse, glabrous, spreading. Flowering- bracts 

 Ij lin. long, J lin. broad, cuneate-obovate or rhomboid, suddenly 

 narrowed to a very fine point, whitish, with a dark fuscous band across 

 the broadest part, pubescent and ciliate, with very minute white hairs 

 on the apical part. Receptacle glabrous. Female flowers sessile. Sepals 

 2, free, equal, |-1 lin. long, ;|-J lin. broad, subspathulate, falcately 

 boat-shaped, with a broad thick spongy keel, obtuse, apiculate, entire or 

 more or less toothed on the keel and sides at the top, fuscous, glabrous. 

 Petals 3, longer than the sepals, unequal, j-lj lin. long, J-} lin. broad, 

 linear-spathulate, obtuse, white, hairy above the middle within, with a 

 very minute black gland near the apex. Male flowers often abortive, 

 sessile. Sepals 2, or rarely 3, filiform, 1 lin. long, fuscous at the apex, 

 glabrous. Stipes between the sepals and petals as long as the sepals, 

 flat. Petals 3, unequal, white, very hairy within, with a very minute 

 black gland near the apex ; dorsal petal twice as long as the others, 

 1 lin. long, ^ lin. broad, projecting beyond the bracts like a little white 

 plume. Anthers black. Seeds ^-J lin. long, narrowly ellipsoid, apicuhite 

 at one end, brown, seen to be marked with longitudinal rows of short 

 transverse papillae when highly magnified. 



Upper Guinea. Senegambia, Heudelot, 148 ! 



Tliis species is well marked by the very different form of the sepals in the male 

 and female tiowers, and by the somewhat plumose appearance of the ultimately 

 oblong heads, due to the protruding odd petal of the n.ale tiowers. It is allied 

 to the following species, but besides the differences nottd thereunder, the much 

 shorter, terete, 5-6-ribbed (not acutely angular) peduncles will at once distinguish it. 



25. E. senegalense, N. E. Br. Leaves numerous, in a dense 

 rosette, spreading, 5-7 lin. long, J-§ lin. broad, linear, acuminate, 

 glabrous. Peduncles 1 or few to a plant, 1(1-22 in. long, about i lin. 

 thick, acutely 4-angled, glabrous. Heads 2-3 lin. in diam., whitish, 

 moncecious. Involucral-bracts 1 lin. long, §-J lin. broad, somewhat 

 orbicular-obovate, very shortly cuspidate-acute, ochreoiis or .straw- 

 coloured, glabrous. Flowering- bracts |-1 lin. long, and as much in 

 breadth, very broadly cuneate-obovate, shortly and very abruptly 



