Ilildebrandtia.] xc. convolvulace^e (baker and rendle). 69 



Base of outer pair not decurrent on the peduncle . 1. H. africana. 

 Base of outer pair shortly decurrent on the 



peduncle . . . . , . 2. H. obcordata. 



Inner pair of sepals of female flower, 1—1^ din. long, 



accrescent . . . . . . 3. H. sejpalosa. 



Flowers pentamerous . . . . . . . 4. S. somalensis. 



1. H. africana, Vatke in Sitzungsb. Ges. Ratwrf. Fr. Berlin, 1876, 8. 

 A much-branched shrub, 6 ft. high, with terete brown spreading woody 

 glabrescent branchlets, spinescent at the apex, the thin bark splitting 

 in elongated areas. Leaves fascicled on pubescent dwarf shoots, ob- 

 lanceolate- to obovate-spathulate, obtuse or emarginate, 3-6 lin. long, 

 tapering below into the short petiole, with adpressed silky hairs on both 

 surfaces, hairs attached in the middle. Flowers axillary, 1 to few in 

 each dwarf branch, 4-merous. Male very shortly stalked, female on a 

 slender silky pedicel, about 3 lin. long ; bracteoles at the base of the 

 stalk, very small, filiform, deciduous. Male flower : 2 outer sepals broadly 

 ovate, blunt, a little over 1 lin. long, rather larger than the decussating 

 inner pair, which are elliptic-oblong and shortly acute ; corolla about 

 3 lin. long, deeply 4-fid, lobes elliptic-ovate, blunt ; stamens ripening 

 in pairs, filaments tapering gradually from base to apex, entire, glabrous ; 

 ovary rudiment bearing 2 slender tapering styles. Female flowers : 2 

 outer sepals large orbicular, entire, attached in the lower third to the 

 pedicel, sparsely silky, becoming 8 to 9 lin. long in the fruit, inner 

 sepals minute ; corolla as in the male ; stamens infertile, anthers repre- 

 sented by a flattened extension of the filament ; styles 2, long, filiform, 

 each bearing a large, somewhat horseshoe-shaped, fleshy, crispulate 

 stigma. Capsule small, globose, ~1\ lin. in diam., concealed between the 

 thin membranous accrescent outer sepals. Seeds yellowish, 1-J-lin. long. 

 — Vatke in Monatsb. Akad. Berl. 1876, 864, Journ. Bot. 1876, 313, 

 Bot. Zeit. 1876, 362, and Linnaea, xliii. 525; Hallier f. in Engl. Jahrb. 

 xviii. 87, and xxv. 515. 



Wile Land. Somaliland : Ahl Mountains near Maid, 3000-4000 ft„ Rilde- 

 brandt, 1525 ! 1534 ! Giacorsa, Riva, 457 ; and without precise locality, Mrs. Lort 

 Phillips ! 



R~. undulata, S. Moore in Journ. Bot. 1899, 406, t. 402, fig. B, differs from 

 the type specimens in the almost glabrous character of the outer sepals in the female 

 flower. 



2. H. obcordata, S. Moore in Journ. Bot. 1899, 406, t. 402, 

 Jig. A. Branchlets woody, resembling those of H. africana. Leaves 

 on pubescent dwarf-shoots, shortly petioled, obovate with emarginate 

 apex, 6 lin. long or less, cuneate at the base, glabrous above, sparsely 

 clothed with adpressed hairs beneath. Flowers unknown. Fruits 

 solitary or in pairs ; peduncles slender, 4-6 lin. long, 2 outer sepals 

 suborbicular, about 9 lin. long and broad, base subacute, decurrent on 

 the peduncle, reticulately veined, glabrous, united to the pedicel in the 

 hrwer half, two inner minute. Capsule subglobose, 2h lin. long, thinly 

 crustaceous, 4-valved. Seeds 4, dark purple, scarcely l-3>- lin. long. 



Nile land. Somaliland, Donaldson Smith ! 



