262 CLiv. ERiocAULE^ (beown). [Mesa7ithemum. 



at about the middle inside. Stamens 6; anthers brownish.— Durand 

 & Schinz, Conspect. Fl. Afr. v. 504. Eriocaulon prescottianum, Bongard 

 in Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. 1831, i. 635. 



Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, without indicution of the collector ! 



Bongard states that this plant is a native of Rio de Janeiro, but upon what 

 authority does not appear. He described it from a specimen in the herbarium of 

 Prescott, which was received from Lindley. The Kew example (hIso received from 

 Lindley), is labelled " Sierra Leone," which is much more likely to be the ri^ht 

 habitat than Brazil, since the other species of Mesanthemum are all from Tropical 

 Africa and Madagascar. However, as the plant appears not to have been collected 

 again, tlie locality requires confirmation. 



3. P^PALANTHUS, Mart. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 1022. 



Sepals 2-3, free or rarely more or less connate. Petals 2-3 ; those 

 of the female flowers free, or connate at the middle or upper part and 

 free below ; those of the male flowers connate into a campanulate or 

 funnel-shaped tube, which is subtruncate or shortly (rarely deeply) 

 bifid or trifid at the apex. Stamens 2 or 3, of the same number as the 

 petals and opposite to them, free or adhering to the corolla-tube. 

 Ovary 2-3-celled ; style divided above into 2-3 simple or bifid, filiform, 

 stigmatic branches, with 2-3 other branches or appendages alternating 

 with them, or arising from the style below them. — Marsh, bog, aquatic 

 or terrestrial, perennial or annual herbs, stemless or with simple or 

 branched leafy stems. Leaves linear or subulate. Peduncles usually 

 one-headed, rarely several-headed, in a few species shorter than the 

 leaves. Flowering-bracts oblong or obovate, flattish or concave. Other 

 characters as for the Order. 



A large genus of between 200 and 300 species, of which about ^ occur in Africa, 

 the rest in Tropical America. 



Peduncles all central. 



Plant very small, ^-1 in. high ; heads ^-| lin. in 



diam. , . . . . . . . 1. P. Welwitschii. 



Plant 2-9 in. high ; heads 2-3 lin. in diam . . 2. P. Wahlhergii. 



Peduncles all lateral from the axils of the older 



leaves ; plant cushion-like . . . . 3. P. pulvinatus. 



1. P. Welwitschii, Rendle in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. ii. 102. A 

 minute, tufted, stemless plant J-1 in. high. Leaves numerous, 3-5 

 lin. long, \-\ lin. broad, linear-subulate, acute, rather rigid, glabrous. 

 Peduncles numerous, central, J-1 in. long, filiform or almost capillary, 

 scantily clothed with rather long gland-tipped hairs ; their sheaths 

 3-5 lin. long, with a tuft of white hairs at the base, very oblique at 

 the mouth, ending in a leaf -like point about 1 J lin. long. Heads very 

 small, J-j lin. in diam., campanulate, becoming subhemispherical in 

 fruit, monoecious, few-flowered, with 4-5 female flowers surrounding 

 2 males. Involucral-bracts exceeding the disk, J-§ lin. long, \ lin. 

 broad, lanceolate or ovate, subacute, glabrous, thin, whitish, shining. 

 Flowering-bracts rather shorter and narrower than the involucral- 

 bracts, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, subacute, glabrous, whitish. 



