90 



XXIV. STEKCULIACEiE. [Ht 



ermanma 



ascending viscid annual herb, with bright carmine flowers ; in sandy 

 stations near the banks of the river Bero ; fl. and fr. July 1859. 

 No. 4711. An erect or ascending, viscid, much branched, annual or 

 biennial herb, with very elegant purple-vermilion flowers simulating 

 those of an AnagalUs ; in sandy shortly-bushy stations and at the 

 skirts of small woods, near Mata de Carpenteiros : fl. and fr., 1859. 

 No. 4712. 



The species as here treated has its characters enlarged, and it 

 includes //. (Ac/carpus) filipes Harv. var. ehdior K. Schumann in 

 Verhandl. Bot. Brandenb. xxx. p. 235 (1888) ; Welwitsch's specimens 

 appear to render this course imperative. 



7. MELOCHIA L. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. p. 223. 



1. M. corchorifolia L. Sp. PI. edit. 1, p. 675 (1753) ; Masters 

 in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. i. p. 236. 



IcoLO E Bengo. — In palm-groves near the river Bengo ; fr. Dec. 

 1853. No. 4716. Coll. Carp. 268. 



LiBONGO.— An undershrub, l|ft. high, with the habit of a Waltheria, 

 branched in an ascending manner from the base, the primary stem 

 erect, the branches gradually shorter from the base towards the apex ; 

 leaves bi-stipulate ; flowers crowded in terminal heads, whitish, yellow 

 when dry ; capsules 5-6-angled, 5-6-seeded ; abundant, but seen only 

 in one station at the marshy margins of a dried-up lake on the left 

 bank of the river Lifune, in company with Azolla pinnata Br., etc. ; 

 fl. and fr. middle of Sept. 1858. No. 4717. 



2. M. crinita Br. ms. in Herb. Mus. Brit. 



Cf. M. melissifoUa, Masters, I.e., p. 236, non 31. melisscefolia 

 Benth. in Hook. Journ. Bot. iv. p. 129 (1841). 



An undershrub, 1| to 2| ft. high; stems erect, branched; 

 branches terete, glabrescent oi- pubescent both with long spreading 

 hairs and with short stellate hairs towards the apex ; internodes 

 short or ranging up to 1^ inch ; leaves ovate, the lower ones 

 rounder and the upper ones narrower, obtusely or rather acutely 

 narrowed at the apex and rounded or truncate at the base, 

 crenate-serrate or serrate on the margins, glabrescent except along 

 the nerves or thinly scattered with simple appressed hairs, green 

 on both surfaces, rather thin, | to 2 in. long by ^ to 1 in. wide ; 

 petiole ranging up to ^ in. long, pubescent ; stipules narrowly lan- 

 ceolate, deciduous, shorter than the petiole ; inflorescence axillary 

 and subterminal, short, dense, pubescent, bracteate ; bracts nar- 

 rowly lanceolate, acute, unequal, pubescent with long spreading 

 hairs, all shorter than the petals ; flowers whitish, sessile or sub- 

 sessile, I in. long ; calyx } in. long, membranous, thinly pubescent ; 

 lobes from a broad base subulate, short ; petals narrowly obovate, 

 I in. long, glabrous ; stamens i in. long, glabrous, exceeding the 

 style-branches ; filaments slender upwards, united at the base 

 for nearly half theii- length ; anthers narrowly lanceolate-oblong, 

 ■^^ in. long. Pistil i in. long ; ovary hairy, terminated by a 

 deeply 5-parted glabrous style; fruit subglobose, small, somewhat 

 hairy, terminated b}- the i-emains of the style. 



Ambriz.— In marshes near Mossul ; fl. and fr. Nov. 1853. No. 4715. 



PUNGO Andongo.— Fl. and fr. No. 4718. 



