Mesantkemu7n.^ cliv. eriocaule^ (brown). 2G1 



tube within. Stamens 6 ; anthers white. — Durand <fe Schinz, Conspect. 

 Fl. Afr. V. 504, and Etudes Fl. Congo, i. 277 ; Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 183 ; 

 N. E. Br. in Dyer, Fl. Cap. vii. 58. Eriocaulon radicans, Benth. in 

 Hook. Niger Fl. 547 ; Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. ii. 27:3. E. giyanteum, 

 Afzel. ex Koernicke in Linnaea, xxvii. 573. E. guineeitae, Steud. Syn, 

 PI. Glum. ii. 273. 



Upper Cruinea. Senegal : River Senegal, Perroitet, 808. Sierra Leone : 

 Bagru River, in wat ground, Mann, 899 ! in a small stream near Regent, Scott- 

 Elliot, 3994! Peninsula of Sierra Leone, Afzel ius ! and without precise locality. 

 Hart ! Smeaihman ! Don ! Liberia : Grand liassa, Ansell ! Lagos : in a swamp. 

 Barter, 20211 ! Lagos Island, Barter, 20219 ! Yoruba, Milson ! Niger Delta : 

 Boiuiy, in open savannah, very common, Kalhreyer,2'\:^\ Fernando I'o and vicinity, 

 Milne I Old Calabar, Rohh ! 



Iiower Cruinea. Gaboon : Gaboon River, Jardin ! French Congo : Loungo ; 

 in a swamp near Fonta Negra, Soyaux, 10 !• I Congo, Smith! Angola, Curror I 



Soutb Central. Congo Free State : Lukolela, Biittner (ex Durand 4* 

 Schinz) . 



The female flowers of this plant are somewhat variable ; in some specimens the 

 sepals are only about ^ as long as the corolla, in others about half as long, whilst in 

 Kalbreyer's 245 tiiey are f as long ; in most examples they are simply denticulate 

 at the apex, but in others they are distinctly ciliate, these two extremes, however, 

 are connected by forms in which the ciliation is represented by one or two hairs 

 only, but I do not consider these differences of specific or even varietal importance 

 in the case of this plant, for in all other characters the plant is fairly uniform. 



This species was unfortunately included in the Flora Capensis before I had dis- 

 covered that all Currcr's plants (which are labelled "South of the Tropic ") were 

 collected in Angola. 



2. M. prescottianum, Koer^iicke in Mart. Fl. Bras. iii. i. 472, t. 

 60, fig. 1. Leaves 3J-7 in. long, 2-3 lin. broad, linear or lanceolate- 

 linear, acute, more or less folded longitudinally, pilose or glabrous below. 

 Peduncles *J-14-|- in. long, thinly pilose ; their sheaths 3-3j in. long, 

 thinly pilose. Heads about j in. in diam. Involucre campanulate, 

 with long radiating inner bracts, light ochraceous or whitish ; outer 

 bracts 2-2h lin. long, Ij-li lin. broad, ovate, obtusely pointed, pubes- 

 cent ; inner 5-G lin. long^ 1^ lin. broad, narrowly oblong, obtuse, 

 glabrous or very slightly pubescent. Receptacle flat, covered with long 

 soft whitish hairs. Flowering-bracts about 2 lin. long, with a very fine 

 capillary stalk and a fusiform acute head, glabrous, whitish. Female 

 flowers sessile or subsessile. Sepals nearly as bug as the corolla, 1 \ lin. 

 long, \ lin. broad, linear-oblong, acute and sometimes denticulate at the 

 apex, concave, glabrous, hyaline, white. No stipes between the sepals 

 and petals. Petals 1 J-lf lin. long, united into a cylindric tube above, 

 free below, ciliate at the apex, glabrous outside, with a few long hairs 

 inside, and having 3 linear glands in the upper part within the tube. 

 Male flowers pedicellate. Sepals longer than the corolla, 1 J-H Hn. 

 long, \-l lin. broad, lanceolate, acute and subdenticulate at the apex, 

 whitish, glabrous. Stipes between the sepals and corolla \ lin. long. 

 Corolla funnel-shaped, truncate, about 1 lin. long, densely ciliate at the 

 apex, glabrous outside and inside, with three long linear glands inserted 



