106 xc. convolvulace,e (baker and rendle). [Merremia. 



Var. tomentosa, Hallier f. in Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belg. xxxvii. 90. Petioles-, the 

 lower surface of the leaf-nerves, and peduncles clothed with greyish t omentum. 



South Central. Congo Free State : Mtowa, on Lake Tanganyika, Deseamps. 



8. M. umbellata, Hallier f. in Engl. Jahrb. Tzviii. 114. Perennial. 

 Stems slender, terete, twining, glabrous or slightly hairy. Leaves 

 corclate-ovate, obtuse to acute, weakly mucronate, 3-6 in. long, 2-3f in. 

 broad, puberulous when young, glabrous or pubescent on the slightly 

 prominent nerves when mature ; petioles shorter than the leaf, 1-4 in. 

 long. Peduncle 2-6 in. long ; cymes umbellate, few- or many-flowered ; 

 bracts triangular-subulate, minute, persistent ; pedicels 6-9 lin. long, 

 subclavate. Flower-buds ovoid, subacute. Sepals glabrous, 4-5 lin. 

 long, elliptic to elliptic-ovate, obtuse or minutely ruucronate. Corolla 

 funnel-shaped, sulphur-yellow or white, glabrous outside, 1-lJ in. long ; 

 midpetaline areas more deeply coloured but not sharply defined. 

 Capsule small, subglobose, glabrous. Seeds velvety. — Dammer in 

 Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 330; Hiern in Cat. Afr. PL Welw. i. 728. 

 Ipomoea umbellata, G. Meyer, Prim. Fl. Esseq. 99 ; Choisy in DC. Prodr. 

 ix. 377 ; Benth. in Hook. Niger Fl. 467. /. primidcejiora, G. Don, 

 Gen. Syst. iv. 270; Choisy, I.e. 390. 



Upper Guinea. Senegambia, Leprieur. Gambia, Skues ! Sierra Leone : 

 Don ! Garrett, 27 ! Scott-Elliot, 4324 ! Cameroons, Bates, 194 ! Preuss, 562 ! 

 Akwa, DinMage, 157. Great Batanga, DinMage, 751. Fernando Po, Vogel, 54 ! 

 Barter, 1838 ! Mann, 85 ! Prince's Island, Welwitsch, 6210 ! 6211 ! Quintas. 



Mozamb. Dist. German East Africa : Masailand, Fischer, 299. 



Widely spread in Tropical America, and nearly allied to the Asiatic M. cymosa, 

 which differs in the shape of the leaf and the larger flowers. 



Hallier in Bull. Herb. Boiss. v. 375 distinguishes the West African forms with 

 yellow flowers as var. occidentalis from the East African (var. orientalis), in which 

 the flowers are said to be white. 



9. M. spongiosa, Renclle in Journ. Bot. 1894, 179. Stems 

 glabrous, prostrate, reaching more than 4 ft. in length in the specimen 

 seen, narrowly winged, as are the petiole and peduncle. Leaves shortly 

 petioled, lanceolate, acuminate. 3-3^ in. long, about 6 lin. broad, light 

 green, glabrous, spongy below ; margin crisped ; petiole 3 lin. or less in 

 length. Peduncle shorter than the leaves, If in. long, bearing a pair 

 of closely few- (to 5-) flowered monochasial cymes ; bracts membranous, 

 subulate, 1J-5 lin. long. Flower-buds ellipsoid to ovoid, obtuse. 

 Sepals subequal, elliptic, glabrescent, coriaceous, with a thin, brittle 

 border, 3 lin. long. Corolla not seen fully expanded, " white with 

 a rosy tinge, plumose, hirsute," Welwitsch. Capsule thin-walled, 

 brittle, about 4 lin. long. Seeds pubescent. — Hiern in Cat. Afr. PI. 

 Welw. i. 728. Ipomoea uliginosa, "Welw. ex Rendle in Journ. Bot. 1894, 

 179. I. spongiosa, Rendle, I.e. 



Lower Guinea. Angola : Pungo Andongo ; swampy parts of Mutollo, Wel- 

 witsch, 6169 ! 6169b ( = 6196b)! 



10. M. quercifolia, Hallier f. in Engl. Jahrb. xviii. 114. 

 Perennial. Stems trailing or twining, minutely muricate as are the 



