Merremia.] xc. convolvulace.e (baker and kendle). 109 



persistent, densely hairy sepals ; enclocarp rigid, separating as 4 papery 

 valves from the pericarp. Seeds typically 4, brown, glabrous, 2A- lin. 

 long. — Hiern in Cat. Afr. PI. Welvv. i. 728 ; Capua in Ann. IstiCBot. 

 Roma, viii. 233. Batatas pento-phylla, Choisy, in Mem. Soc. Phys. 

 Geneve, vi. -136, and in DC. Prodr. ix. 339 ; Benth. in Hook. Niger Fl. 

 465. Convolvulus pentaphyllus, Linn. Sp. PL eel. 2, 223. Ipomcea 

 cegyptia, Linn. Sp. PI. ed. 1, 162. /. pentaphylla, Jacq. Ie. t. 319 ; Oliver 

 in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxix. 115. Spiranthera pentaphylla, Bojer, Hort. 

 Maurit. 226. 



Upper Guinea. Senegal, Roger, 94 ! Dollinger, 8 ! Perrottet ! Sierra 

 Leone, Smeathman ! Scott-Elliot, 4060 ! 4S69 ! Guinea, Iserl. Togo, near Lome, 

 Wacneclce, 275! Lagos, Millen, 118 ! Rowland! Northern Nigeria : Nupe, Barter, 

 863! 



Nile Land. Eritrea : near Mount Yangous, 1100 ft., Schweinfurth § Riva, 

 598 ! Assaorta, 3000 ft., Pappi, 3112. Barea, Terracciano Sf Pappi, 2730, Keren, 

 Stetidner, 942. Abyssinia : by the River Taccazze, 3000 ft., Schimper, 1429, 2322 ! 

 Soraaliland, Hildebrandt, SS3a. Kontofan, Kotsehy, 110! Pfund, 153! 521! 

 Soudan : Khartoum, Schweinfurth, 799 ! Broun, 21 ! Kirreh, Schweinfurth, 465a ; 

 above Khartoum, SpeJce\fy Grant ! 



Lower Guinea. Lower Congo : Masansa, Burton ! Boma, Deioevre, 3 ,- 

 Dupuis, Wilwerth ; Stanley Pool, Hens, B, 37l ; Moanola, Tanderyst ; Mayombe, 

 Di'.puis ; and without precise locality, Smith ! Tsland of St. Thomas, Bon ! Moller. 

 Angola : Mossamedes ; in sandy thickets by the River Giraul, Wehuitsch, 6118 ! 

 Loan go, Soyaux, 220 ! 



IVIozamb. Dist. Portuguese East Africa : Kaimba Tsland, opposite Tete, 

 XirTc ! 



Widely spread in the tropics. 



16. M. multisecta, Hallier f. in Engl. Jahrb. xviii. 115. 

 Perennial, glabrous herb rich in latex, branched from the base. Stems 

 several, prostrate, terete, rigid, purplish, 2-3 ft. long. Leaves fleshy, 

 very stiff and brittle, reniform in general outline, 1-1 1 in. long, up to 

 2| in. broad, cut down nearly to the base into 5 pinnatisect segments ; 

 the lowest pair unequally forked, the largest secondary lobes deeply 

 crenate ; petiole as long as or longer than the blade. Peduncles 1-5- 

 flowered, longer than the petiole and sometimes exceeding the leaves, 

 lf-3 in. long ; pedicels subclavate, 6-8 lin. long. Flower-buds ovoid, 

 more or less acuminate ; bracts minute, ovate. Sepals subcoriaceous, 

 lanceolate, with a bluntly acuminate apex, barely 8 lin. long, glabrous 

 or with sparsely ciliate margin. Corolla shortly funnel-shaped, about 

 1 in. long. Capsule globose, glabrous, 4 lin. in diam., 2-celled, cells 1- 

 very rarely 2-seeded. Seeds large for the size of the capsule, pisiform 

 or plano-convex, grey, glabrous. — Hiern in Cat. Afr. PI. "VVelw. i. 728. 



Lower Guinea. Angola : Mossamedes, Wehvitseh, 6112 ! Banks of the 

 River Croque, Johnston ! 



17. M. somalensis, Hallier f. in Ann. Istit. Boi. Roma, vii. 226. 

 A much branched undershrub, l-i| ft. high. Branchlets glabrous 

 with very minutely rugulose cortex. Leaves rather fleshy, glabrous, 

 linear-oblong, 6-8 lin. long, 1-2 lin. broad, obtuse to subacute, margin 

 dentate, revolute ; petiole short. Flowers solitary in the leaf -axils on 



