502 XCV. GESNERACE.E (BAKER AND CLARKE). \Epitliema. 



circumscissile. Seeds 400 /* long, oblong, brown, spirally striated 

 longitudinally, on small funicles. — Weak, small, hairy, succulent herbs, 

 the African species stemless. Peduncle bearing at its top a one-sided 

 or hooded bract which surrounds the dense inflorescence ; pedicels hardly 

 any, scorpioid, forming apparently a small head. 

 Species 7, the others in South-eastern Asia. 



Peduncles 1 in. long ; calyx %-± in. long . . . 1. E. tenue. 



Peduncles 3i in. long; calyx i in. long . . .2. E. th omens e. 



1. E. tenue, G. B. Clarke in DC. Monogr. Phan.v. 181. Stemless 

 or nearly so. Leaves (blade) 3 by 2 in., cordate, ovate, irregularly 

 crenate, with many-celled hairs on both surfaces ; nerves 8-9 pairs ; 

 petiole 1J in. long. Peduncles 1 in. long ; bract campanulate, oblique, 

 \ in. long. Calyx |— J in. long. — Fritsch in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 

 iv. 3 B. 160. 



Upper Guinea. Fernando Po, Mann, 2345 ! 



2. E. thomense, Henriq. in Bolet. Soc. Brot. x. 145. Leaves 

 (blade) 3 J by 3 in. Peduncles 3i in. long ; bract J in. long. Calyx 

 i in. long. 



lower Guinea. Island of St. Thomas, 3000 ft., Quintas ! 



Except in its larger size this is equal to E. tenue ; Henriques says that E. tenue 

 differs by its pahmnerved leaves ; but I see no difference in the nervation. All the 

 species of Epithema are so similar in structure that the differences in size (which are 

 very great in the well-known E. carnosum) are of very doubtful specific value. 



3. ACANTHONEMA, Hook. f. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. 1021. 



Calyx small, deeply 5-lobecl. Corolla tubular, oblique; limb of 5 

 short rounded lobes. Stamens on the corolla 4 (often only the 2 anticous 

 developed), the 2 posticous with a tooth close to the anthers. Disc 

 oblique. Ovary 2-celled ; the two parietal placentas intruding till they 

 nearly meet, bearing numerous ovules on their margins ; stigma emar- 

 ginate. Capsule ovoid, small (pericarp very tough), loculicidal. Seeds 

 under the recurved margins of the placenta, ellipsoid, 400 ^ long, brown. — 

 Leaf 1, i.e., the other cotyledon disappears; the permanent cotyledon 

 grows on and is carried 1-5 in. up an apparent stem as in some species 

 of Streptocarpus. Peduncles 1-4 at the base of the leaf, 0-2 in. long, 

 each carrying 1-12 flowers in a lax cyme. (The cross section of the 

 ovary depicted in Bot. Mag. t. 5339 must have been taken very near 

 the base to show the placentas confluent.) 



1. A. strigosum, Hook. f. Bot. Mag. t. 5339. Leaf (cotyledon) 

 ovate or oblong, sessile, cordate, thinly hairy on both surfaces, growing- 

 out to 9 in. long ; margin subentire ; nerves 20 pairs. Pedicels \ in. 

 long, with many-celled hairs ; bracts at their base minute. Calyx-lobes 

 J^- in. long, oblong, with many-celled hairs. Corolla-tube f in. long ; 

 limb violet-purple. Anthers confluent in pairs; tooth at the top of 

 the anticous stamens very small ; posticous stamens very frequently 



