Merremia.] xc. convolvulace^e (baker and eendle). 103 



papery when dry, up to 5 in. long by 7 broad, palmatisect with 5 more or 

 less elliptic lobes, with bluntish mucronulate apex and tapering base, 

 the median the largest reaching 5 in. long by nearly half as broad, the 

 outermost the smallest more or less deeply and unequally bilobed ; veins 

 on the under leaf-face winged and conspicuous, sometimes obsoletely 

 puberulous ; petiole stout, narrowly winged, nearly as long as the blade. 

 Peduncle short, 1J in. or less, few-flowered; bracts deciduous, mem- 

 branous, bluntly ovate, about 3 lin. long; pedicels stoutly clavate and 

 broadly winged, about 1 in. long. Calyx broadly cup-shaped, glabrous, 

 f-1 in. long, and as broad ; sepals broadly obovate to orbicular, apex 

 rounded, coriaceous with broad thin subpellucid margins. Corolla 

 white, broadly funnel-shaped, about 2| in. long and nearly as broad, 

 glabrous, except for a slight hairiness on the upper part of the badly- 

 definecl mid-petaline areas. Filaments dilated and hairy at the base, up 

 to 8 lin. long ; anthers over 2 lin. long, contorted. Fruit not seen. 



Upper Guinea. Gold Coast: Odumassu. Johnson, 155! Krobo Plains, 

 Johnson, 517 ! Togo : near Lome, Warnecke , 273 ! 



3. M. kentrocaulos, Eendle. Perennial, glabrous. Stems twining' 

 generally muriculate, sometimes very obscurely, as are also the petioles 

 and peduncles. Leaves membranous, glabrous, 3-6 in. in diam., 

 palmately cut nearly to the base into 5 to 7 lanceolate to oblong- 

 lanceolate, acuminate or acute to subacute segments ; veins prominent 

 beneath, impressed above; petiole half as long to about as long as the 

 blade. Peduncle long or short ; flowers few or several in a lax cyme ; 

 pedicels often 1 in. or more long ; bracts minute, deciduous. Sepals 

 oblong, f-1^ in. long, obtuse to acute, enlarged in the fruit, becoming 

 6 lin. long, spreading and rigid. Corolla sulphur-yellow, red at the base, 

 funnel-shaped, 2-2| in. long; lobes bluntly triangular; midpetaline 

 area somewhat conspicuously lined, but not very sharply limited. 

 Capsule narrowly ellipsoid, 6-8 lin. long, 2-chambered ; pericarp 

 thin, splitting lengthwise into 4 valves, and bearing the persistent 

 withered style on the septum. Seeds black, glabrous, between 3 and 

 4 lin. long. — Operculina kentrocaulos, Hallier f. in Engl. Jahrb. xviii. 

 119 ; Hiern in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. i. 730. Ipomoea tuberosa, Choisy in 

 DC. Prodr. ix. 362, partly (as to syn. Steud.), and A. Rich. Tent. Fl. 

 Abyss. ii. 67, not of Linn. Convolvulus kentrocaulos, Steud. in PI. Schimp. 

 It. Abyss, ii. 800. 



Upper Guinea. Northern Nigeria : Nupe, Barter, 930 



Nile Land. Gallabat : Matamma, Schiveinfurth, 2137 ! Abyssinia : by the 

 River Tacazze, Sc/iimjier, 800! Shoa, Qiiartin-Dillon 8f Petit, 64! Mittu : 

 igarna, Schiveinfurth , 2803 ! Bongo ; Sabbi, Schiveinfurth, 2670 ! Mom : 

 leangara, Petherick ! 



Lower Guinea. Angola: Grolungo Alto, near Menha-Lula, Welivitsch, 6167 ! 

 jy the River Congo and Sobato Mussengue, Welwitsch, 6168! Pungo Andongo! 

 ^alundo, Welivitsch, 6166 ! Mechoiv, 157. Malange, Gossweiler, 1106 b ! 



Var. pinnatifida, N. E. Br. Lobes of leaves deeply pinnatifid. Bracts usually 

 resembling the leaves, hut smaller. Flowers creamy-white; corolla-tube brownisli- 

 cvimson. 



