Pharnaceum] LXVI. FICOIDEA, 419 
suffrutescent, scarcely a hand high, wholly violet-grey ; stems 
numerous, decumbent-ascending ; leaves fleshy, almost terete, 
like those of a Sedum, linear, rather obtuse, muticous, glaucous, 
rather purplish, bistipulate at the base, subamplexicaul ; stipules 
scarious, whitish; warts on the foliage, and inflorescence some- 
times plentiful, in other cases scarcely conspicuous or rare or 
altogether absent ; flowers apetalous; calyx prettily rosy or red, 
the three inner segments smaller, more coralline, and not so 
broadly membranous on the margin as the two outer ones; 
stamens mostly 7, rarely more numerous, or in short-stalked 
flowers only 1 ; anthers broadly oblong ; ovary 1 to 5-celled ; styles 
3 or 5, recurved ; placentation axile ; seeds indefinite, pear-shaped. 
At the base of the long rays of the umbel there are sometimes 
1 to 3 almost sessile flowers with a single effete stamen and an 
abortive ovary. 
MossaMEDEs.—In sandy seaside situations near the town of Mossa- 
medes, abundant ; fl. and fr. Juneand July 1859. No. 2381, and Cott. 
Carp. 624. On the sands of the coast near Mossamedes ; fl. July 1859, 
fr. June 1860. Coun. Carp. 238. 
10, PSAMMOTROPHA Eckl. & Zeyh. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. 
Pl. i. p. 858. 
1. P. myriantha Sond. in Harv. & Sond. Fl. Cap. i. p. 147 (1860). 
Var. huillensis Welw. ex Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. ii. p. 593. 
Hourtia.—A herb, at first sight seeming annual, but with a fleshy- 
thickened perennial rootstock bearing a rosette of leaves at its apex ; 
when young with quite the habit of an Androsace ; stems weak, some- 
times decumbent-ascending, in other cases almost erect, mostly rubicund; 
branches thickened at the distant nodes; leaves lanceolate, rather 
fleshy, glaucous-lepidote, collected in half-whorls, rather flaccid ; 
flowers apetalous, greenish ; calyx deeply 5-cleft ; segments rather 
obtuse, white-membranous at the margin, imbricate in estivation ; 
corolla 0; disk rudimentary; ovary pentagonal, 5-celled; cells 1-ovulate; 
style firm ; stigmas 5, connivent in flower, soon radiate-patent; capsule 
globose-pentagonal, 5-celled, 5-valved, foveolate-impressed at the apex, 
angles rather acute ; cells 1-seeded ; seeds globose, granulated outside. 
In sandy grassy thickets along the road from the lake Ivantdla towards 
Quilengues, near Lopollo and Monino, abundant ; fl. and fr. Feb. 1860. 
No. 2417. 
I follow Oliver in referring this number as above, but its characters 
are intermediate between those of P. myriantha Sond. and those of 
P. androsacea Fenzl in Ann. Wien. Mus. ii. p. 265 (1840), and it might 
be considered as a variety of the latter and older species ; in fact, the 
two species are probably not distinct. 
11. GISEKIA L.; Benth. & Hook. Gen. Pl. i. p. 859. 
1. G. pharnacioides L. Mant. Pl. alt., p. 562 (Gisechia) (1771) ; 
Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. ii. p. 593 (pharnaceoides). 
Loanpa.—An annual, prostrate, rather fleshy herb ; stems quadran- 
gular, purplish, dichotomously or trichotomously branched, spreading 
radiately over the ground, leaves opposite, rather fleshy, glaucous, 
lanceolate, whitish-papillose beneath; peduncles and pedicels brac- 
