728 Lxxxvii. coNVOLVULACE^. \_Merremia 



Var. (?) chrysantha HLern. 



A perennial herb, climbing far and widely; stem very thin, 

 flexuous, broadly three-winged ; flowers large, of a sulphur or 

 rarely of a whitish yellow colour, handsome ; fruit about ^ in. in 

 diameter ; seeds mostly with one curved face and two flat faces, 

 minutely lepidote-puberulous, otherwise glabrous along the 

 squamulose-puberulous angles, about i in. long by \ in. thick. 



GoLUNGO Alto.— At the base of the Alto Queta mountains ; fr. 

 Aug. 1855. Coll. Carp. 769. At Sange ; fr. Aug. 1855. A plant 

 with rather smaller fruits and more puberulous seeds, perhaps distinct. 

 Coll. Carp. 768. 



2. M. umbellata Hall, f.. I.e., p. 114. 



Ipomcea umbellata G. R W. Meyer, Prim. Fl. Esseq. p. 99 (1818). 



Prince's Island.— In the lower thickets ; fl. Sept. 1853. The pollen 

 grains are globose and nodulose, not spiny. No. 6310. In fl. ; Sept. 

 1853. In the study set a flower has a funnel-shaped corolla 2 in. long. 

 A poor specimen, perhaps not belonging to this species. No. 6211. 



3. M. spongiosa Rendle in Journ. Bot. xxxii. p. 179 (1894). 

 Ipomoui spongiosa Rendle, I.e.. I. uliginosa Welw. ex Kendle, I.e. 

 PuNGO Andongc— In fl. No. 61696 (= 61966). Flowers whitish 



with a rosy tinge, plumose-hirsute. In swampy parts of MutoUo, in 

 company with Scleria ; fl. Jan. 1857. A prostrate herb, with a vertical 

 cylindrical root, and erect secund linear leaves narrower than in the 

 type. No. 6169. Fr. Dec. 1856. Doubtfully referred here. Coll. 

 Carp. 774. 



4. M. quercifoliaHall.f. in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. xviii. p. 114 (1893). 

 PuNGO Andongo. — Flowers large, orange-yellow, variegated, atro- 



purpureous at the bottom. In sandy thickets near Quitage, at the 

 river Cuije ; fl. March 1857. No. 6173. 



5. M. multiseeta Hall., f., I.e., p. 115. 



MossAMEDES. — A perennial, copiously lactescent herb, branched 

 from the base ; stems several, prostrate, 2 to 3 ft. long, cylindrical, 

 rigid, purplish ; leaves fleshy, very rigid and brittle, pedatifid-laciniate ; 

 peduncles axillary, 1- or 2-flowered, three times as long as the petiole, 

 bibracteolate ; capsule spherical, somewhat bisulcate, 2-celled, the 

 cells 1- or very rarely 2-seeded, crowned with the filiform shortly 

 bilobed style ; seeds large in proportion to the capsule, plano-convex, 

 smooth. In sandy maritime stations between Mossamedes and Cabo 

 Negro, not uncommon ; fr. beginning of July 1859. No. 6113. A 

 lactescent, perennial herb ; roots sinuous, stems prostrate ; leaves like 

 those of a Geranium or Pelargonium. At Praia da Amelia, near 

 Mossamedes ; fr. July 859. Coll. Carp. 29. 



In company with this plant grew Zygophyllum simplex L. (Welw. 

 herb. no. 1573) and Caucalis mossamedensis Welw. herb. no. 2500, in 

 Sept. 1859 among gravelly hills towards the mouth of the river Caroca. 

 Cuscuta planifolia Ten., var. mossamedensis (Welw. herb. no. 6141) 

 grew upon this herb. In the study set a fasciated branch exists. The 

 seeds are used as coffee. 



6. M. pentaphylla Hall, f.. I.e., p. 115. 



Ipomma cegyptia L. Sp. PI., edit. 1, p. 162 (1753), Convolvulus 

 pentaphyllus L. Sp. PI., edit. 2, p. 223 (1762). 



