388 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 
Diets, L. Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Scrophulariaceen Afrika’s. 
Part iu. Engler’s Jahrb., vol. xxv., pp. 120-123. 1898. 
Contains the descriptions of 5 new South African species 
collected by Dr. Wilms. 
‘SCHLECHTER, R. Die Drége’schen Asclepiadaceen im EH. Meyer’- 
schen Herbar. Engl. Bot. Jahrb. Beiblatt, No. 54, pp. 14. 
Contains a critical revision of the collection of Asclepiadacez 
on which E. Meyer based the descriptions published in 1835 in 
his Com. pl. Afr.-austr. This collection is at present in the 
possession of Dr. Brehmer at Liibeck. 
MartotsH, R. Die Blattscheiden von Watsonia Meriana als Wasser 
absorbirende Organe. In Festschrift zum 70 Geburtstage 
Schwendener’s, pp. 421-424, with two figures. Berlin, 1899. 
The absorption of water by aérial organs of plants is—apart 
from the epiphytes—of rare occurrence. Watsonia Meriana, a 
gorgeous iridaceous plant, which flowers in summer on the 
south-western mountains, possesses inflated leaf sheaths which 
often contain water. This water is derived from the south-east 
clouds, and serves, as proved by a series of experiments, to feed 
the sheaths which surround the young tissue at the internodes, 
but cannot be utilised by the flowers themselves. 
MacOwan, P. Herbarium Austro-Africanum, Cent. XX. Capetown, 
1898. 
The total number of plants distributed amounts to 30,000. 
It is not the intention of the author to continue this distribution 
in the same way. Rare plants coming in will be sent out from 
time to time. 
R. M. 
