362 xen. scrophulariace.e (hemsley and skan). [Melasma. 



Species o, 1 in South Africa, 3 in Tropical America. 



The author of Velvitsia does not point out its differential characters, but he 

 places it next Bopusia (Graderia). We can only regard V. calycina as a congener 

 of Melasma scabrum, which has quite the same kind of calyx in the fruiting stage. 

 It is perhaps open to question whether Melasma rhinanthoides, Benth., should be 

 retained in the genus. See the remarks under Alectra. 



1. M. calycinum, Ilemsl. An erect, perennial herb, scabrid in 

 nearly all parts. Rootstock woody. Stems \\ to 2 ft. high, rigid, 

 straight, angular, sparingly branched. Leaves opposite or upper ones- 

 alternate, very shortly stalked, thin, very rigid, strongly veined, lanceo- 

 late or oval-oblong, 1^-3 in. long, obtuse or rounded at the tip, more or 

 less narrowed towards the base, very rough, remotely denticulate. 

 Inflorescence \ to 1 ft. long ; lower pedicels about 1 in. long, shorter 

 upwards. Floral leaves or bracts nearly 2 in: long, smaller upwards. 

 Bracteoles narrow about as long as the calyx and close under it. Calyx 

 about 9 lin. long in fruit, hemispherical, inflated, 10-nerved, net-veined, 

 scabrid ; lobes deltoid, acute. Corolla verging on pale yellow, veined 

 with violet. Capsule oval, pointed, compressed. Seeds about \ in. 

 long. — Velvitsia calycina, Hiern in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. i. 771. 



lower Guinea. Huilla : in moist thickets near Ohai, towards Lopollo, 5000 ft., 

 Wehoitsch, 1263 ! 



Description partly from Hiern, who states that the chief part of it was taken 

 from Welwitsch's notes. 



38. ALECTRA, Thunb. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PL ii. 966. 



Calyx campanulate, not enlarged in fruit, 10-nerved or 10-ribbed, 

 equally nearly 5-lobed ; lobes usually about as long as the tube, acute. 

 Corolla very thin, longitudinally veined, early marcescent, persistent with- 

 in the calyx around the ripe capsule, narrowly campanulate, slightly ob- 

 lique, usually not more than a third longer than the calyx, nearly equally 

 5-lobed ; lobes rounded, recurved during the short period of expansion, 

 then tightly twisted up. Stamens I, diclynamous, sometimes nearly 

 equal, attached below the middle of the corolla, included ; filaments all 

 bearded or only the two longer ones, or all glabrous ; anthers connivent 

 or convergent in pairs; cells equal or unequal, apiculate or obtuse. 

 Ovary glabrous; style clavate above the middle, recurved, rolled up 

 with the stamens in the persistent corolla. Capsule globose or com- 

 pressed, included in the calyx, loculicidal. Seeds very numerous, 

 linear-cuneate or clavate, straight or curved, truncate at the ends, 

 about A-l lin. long; outer testa transparent, very coarse-celled, about 

 six times as long as the ovoid or conoid, nearly central nucleus. — - 

 Annual or perennial, erect, usually hispid herbs, parasitical on the 

 roots of other plants, often almost leafless, and turning black in drying. 

 Stems simple or branched. Leaves opposite or alternate, small, sessile 

 or shortly stalked, entire or toothed. Inflorescence usually dense. 

 Flowers small, usually yellow, veined with brown or red, solitary in the 



