108 



xc. convolvulace^e (baker axd rendle). [Merremia. 



13. M. palmata, Rattier f. in Engl. Jahrb. xviii. 112. Whole 

 plant glabrous. Stems herbaceous, glaucescent, 3-6 ft. long, spreading or 

 climbing. Leaves glabrous, deeply palmately 5-lobed, the two lowest 

 lobes sometimes unequally forked ; lobes linear or lanceolate, acute or 

 blunt and mucronate, central one in the upper leaves reaching 

 2| lin. long by about 3 lin. broad ; in the lower leaves much shorter and 

 broader, according to Hallier 1\ in. long by 8 lin. broad. Petiole 

 shorter than than the leaf, up to about 1 in. long, channelled above. 

 Peduncle 1 -flowered, generally longer than the leaf, reaching 3 in.; the 

 portion above the small linear acute bracts thickening upwards, 4-8 lin. 

 long ; buds ellipsoidal, obtuse. Sepals elliptic, with a rounded apex ; 

 subequal, 4-5 lin. long, glabrous, greenish-yellow, coriaceous, with a 

 membranous edge. Corolla 1 in. long, broadly and shortly funnel- 

 shaped, probably pale yellow ; midpetaline areas badly defined, sparsely 

 pubescent above, inconspicuously lined. — Hallier f. in Jahrb. Hamb. 

 Wiss. Anst. xv. 41. 



Nile Land. British East Africa : Kibwezi, Kassner, 708 ! 



Lower Guinea. Angola : Kakele, on the Chitanda River, Baum, 202 ! 

 German South-west Africa : Damaraland, Fen ! Belch, 52 ; Luderitz, 175. Here- 

 rolandj near Otyimbingue, Fischer, 105. 



MozamD. Dist. Rhodesia : Bulawayo, Band, 128 ! 129 ! 364 ! 



14. M. ampelophylla, Hallier f. in Engl, Jahrb. xviii. 115. 

 Stems long, striate, flattened, contorted, furnished with yellow hairs 

 principally at the nodes, as are also the petioles and bases of the 

 peduncles. Leaves glabrous, shortly petioled, up to 2 in. long, palm- 

 ately 7-lobed below the middle ; lobes nearly twice as long as broad, 

 central lobe 1\ in. long, rounded or subemarginate, minutely dentate, 

 ending in a retiexed curved mucro ; secondary nerves prominent ; petiole 

 barely \ in. long. Peduncle 1-2-flowerecl, about 1 in. long; bracts 

 minute, glabrous, lanceolate ; pedicels glabrous, clavate, about 4 lin. 

 long. Flower-buds conical, acute. Sepals cartilaginous-membranous, 

 pallid, ovate, lanceolate, acute, glabrous, the inner barely 6 lin. long, 

 the outer shorter. Corolla probably white, tubular-funnel-shaped, \\ 

 in. long ; midpetaline areas obscure. — Dammer in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 

 330. 



Wile Land. British East Africa : Ulu, Fischer, 412. 



15. M. pentaphylla, Hallier f. in Engl. Jahrb. xviii. 115. 

 Annual. Stems slender, twining, covered like the petioles, peduncles 

 and pedicels with fine yellowish spreading hairs. Leaves digitate, 

 membranous, sparsely adpressecl, pilose ; segments 5, elliptic, narrow- 

 ing to the base, apex acuminate, 2-4 in. long ; petiole as long as or 

 longer than the blade. Peduncles generally long but not exceeding the 

 leaf, few- or many-flowered ; pedicels f-1 in. long, ultimately deflexed. 

 Sepals elliptic-ovate, obtuse, 6 lin. long, densely clothed with the 

 characteristic long spreading hairs. Corolla campanulate-funnel- 

 shaped, white or yellowish, 1 in. long. Anthers finally twisted. Ovary 

 completely 4-celled. Capsule about 6 lin. in diam., enveloped by the 



