Pycreus.'] clvi. cyperace.e (clarke). 29;^> 



longitudinal. — Durand & Schinz. fltudes Fl. Congo, i. 282 ; De Wild, it 

 Durand, 111. Fl. Congo, i. 37, t. 19. 



Xiower Guinea. Lower Congo : Lutete, by the 'River Ntombi, Hens, A, 

 251! 



South Central. Congo Free State: Equator, 1000 ft., Hens, C, 1H2 ! 



This species is altogether a Pycreus ; but it is the only one which afforJs any 

 clue to the route by which Cyperus has passed into Pycreus. The nut has some- 

 times a large asymmetric depression, being then similar to the nut of Carex, cullod 

 ** nux prava " by Boott. 



8. P. macranthus, C. B. Clarke in Durand d: Schim, Conspect. Fl. 

 Afr. V. 538. Roots fibrous. Stems 1-2 ft. long, somewhat thick, 

 triquetrous at the top. Leaves 12 by J- J in. broad ; sheaths of mther 

 lax tissue, transversely lineolate. Umbel 3-1 in. in diam., often con- 

 tracted, nearly into 1 head of 6-30 spikelets ; bracts 3, lowest 3-H in. 

 long, similar to the leaves. Spikes of 3-8 spikelets, dark-chestnut- 

 coloured. Spikelets up to 1 by ^ in. (sometimes only jj these dimen- 

 sions), each lG-28-nutted. Glumes ovate, obtuse, inflated. Nut very 

 small, scarcely J the length of the glume, obovoid, black ; outermost 

 cells very obscure. — C. B. Clarke in Dyer, Fl. Cap. vii. 15(! ; Rendle in 

 Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. ii. 107. Cyperus macrauthus, Boeck. in Linna^a, xxx. 

 462;. Ridley in Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, Bot. ii. 126; K. Schnm. in 

 Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 117. C. lanceus, var. maa'ostachya^ Kunth, 

 Enum. ii. 8. 



Iiower Guinea. Angola : Huilla ; marshy places at EmpaUuica, 50OO ft,, 

 Welwitsch, 6877 ! 



nKozamb. Dlst. German East Africa : between Lake Tanganyika and Lake 

 Rukwa, 6000 ft., Nutt ! 



Also in South Africa. 



Kunth regarded P. macranthus as the full form of P. niyricans. Hoeckeler 

 separated off his single Cape type of P. macranthus (from all the mountain 

 Abyssinian P. nigricans) by its thicker stem, and much longer, brighter spikelets. 

 The accession of material from intermediate localities has made it difficult to keep 

 the two species separate ; Buchanan, 2S (from the Shire HighlandH) at first placed 

 in P. macranthus, was subsequently removed to P. nigricans. At r.li events, Null's 

 plant from Lake Tanganyika is typically P. macranthus. 



Var. angustifolius, C. B. Clarke ex Rendle in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. ii. 107. 

 Stolons long, scarcely gL in. in diam., covered by narrow-lanceolate scales ^ in. long. 

 Leaves very narrow. Spikelets ^ by | in. Nut having the outermost cells longi- 

 tudinally oblong. — C. lanceus, var. angustifolius, Ridley in Trans. Linn. Soc. sor. 2, 

 Bot. ii. 126. 



Xiower Guinea. Angola : Pungo Andongo ; Candumba, 3300 ft., Welu-itsrh, 

 6930 ! Quita ; Gambos, Newton, 20 I 



The nut, though not ripe, shows that these plants must go with P. macranthus 

 and P. nigricans rather than with P. umbrosus {Cyperus lanceus). 



9. P. sanguinolentus, -A^ees i?i ZinnrFa, ix. 283. Stem 4-18 in. 

 long, covered J its length by leaf-sheaths, often tiowering the first year, 

 or usually decumbent at the base, rooting and often long creeping. 

 Leaves as long as the stem or scarcely half so long, ^\-^, in. broad. 

 Umbel simple, usually narrow, often contracted nearly into 1 head ; 



