Mm'iscus.] CLVi. cyperace/E (clauke). 401 



Schum. in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 122. C. Iliklebrandtii, Boeck. in 

 Flora, 1880, 436. 



wile l^and. British East Africa : Ukambi; Kitux, Hildebrandt 2654! River 

 Sabaki, Gregory! Mombasa, Wakefield! Rabai Hills, near Mombasa, 2^a_yfcr .' Ribe, 



Wakefield ! 



KSozamb. Slst. Zanzibar, Hildehrandt, 1074 ! Bojer I German East Africa : 

 •Usambara; Tanga, JSTo/*^, 2014! Usaramo; Dar es Salaam, jK'Mw^ze, 214 ! East of 

 the coast- range, Speke Sf Grant ! Rovuma River, Meller ! Portuguese East Africa : 

 Lower Zambesi ; Tete, Peters ! British Central Africa : Nyasaland ; Kondowe to 

 Karonga, 2000-6000 ft., Whyte ! Blantyre, Scott! Shire Highlands, Buchanan, 

 26 ! Mandala, Scott-Elliot, 8505 ! Mount Malosa, 4000-6000 ft., Whyte ! Zomba 

 Plains, 2500-3000 ft., Whyte ! Mount Mlanji, Whyte ! Xamasi, Cameron, 7 ! and 

 without precise locality, Buchanan, 1429 ! 1430 ! 



The typical examples of this, with very white spikelets, appear easily recognisable, 

 but they can hardly be distinguished from M. tomaiophyllus but by the more 

 numerous nuts to the spikelet ; they have the top of the stem and margins of the 

 leaves smooth or more or less rough. The examples of Meller from the Rovuma 

 Hiver may represent another species ; the spikelets are here browner, becoming a 

 dusky brown, and they appear narrower and nearly terete. I find that they have 

 the upper margins of the glumes very minutely ciliate as in typical M. hemisphcBricus. 

 They have the glumes, in imperfectly ripe heads, adpressed-erect; whereas in the 

 typical M. hemisphcBricus the glumes are. in the perfectly ripe heads, obliquely 

 spreading. 



b?). M. alpestris, C. B. Clarke. Glabrous. Rhizome short, 

 horizontal. Stems ''l-^\ ft. long, at the top triquetrous and scabrous or 

 nearly smooth. Leasees § the length of the stem, \ in. broad, tough ; 

 margins smooth or scabrous. Umbel compound, o in. in diam. ; rays 

 hardly \ in. long ; bi-acts 7-10, similar to the leaves, lowest a foot long. 

 Spikes shortly cylindric, 4 in. broad, dense, yellowish-green. Spikelets 

 T ^y tV ^^'5 moderately compressed, 'maturing 4-6 nuts, disarticulating 

 in one piece above the two lowest glumes. Glumes oblong-elliptic, 

 obtuse, scarcely spreading. Nut | the length of the glume, linear- 

 oblong, trigonous, brown. Style 3-branched. — Cyperus alpestris, K. 

 Schum. in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. v. 122. 



XMCozamb. Slst. German East Africa : Kilimanjaro, 8250 ft., Volkens 



872 ! 



54. M. Gregorii, C. B. Clarke in Journ. Bot. 1896, 225. 

 Glabrous. Stem 1 ft. long, stout, nearly round, at the top obscurely 

 trigonous, at the base nodose thickened. Leaves several, 4 by J in., 

 tough, scarcely scabrous on the margins. Umbel simple, condensed, 

 1 J in. in diam. ; rays 7-8, 0-J in. long ; bracts 5, similar to the leaves, 

 the lowest 4 in. long. Spikes 4 i^^- loiig and broad, of 16 spikelets, 

 straw-coloured. Spikelets nearly J by |- in., compressed, maturing 

 6 nuts. Glumes ovate-oblong, obtuse, 9-ribbed, ultimately adpressed- 

 «rect ; upper margins quite glabrous. Nut f the length of the glume, 

 broad-oblong, black. Style J the length of the nut ; branches 3, long. 



MTlle Iiand. British East Africa : River Tuna, Gregory, 93 ! 



This species is close to M. hemispheericus, differing by the shorter leave?. 



