Melasma] lxxxix. sorophulariace^. 769 



MossAMEDES. — A herb, about a foot high, parasitical on the roots 

 of other plants ; rhizome orange-fibrillose ; stem simple, erect, purple ; 

 spike of flowers about 8 in. long ; bracts and calyces herbaceous-green ; 

 corolla like yellow wine in colour, marked with purple nerves. In 

 bushy places at the banks of the river Bero ; fl. middle of July 1859. 

 No. 5811. 



HuiLLA.— Plant about 10 in. high, twice branched, apparently 

 parasitical, with the habit of an Orohanche ; branches erect or nearly 

 so. In bushy fields neglected after cultivation, near MumpuUa ; 

 fl. and fr. Oct. 1859. No. 5800. 



Both of these Nos. are represented by poor specimens, and the 

 determinations are doubtful. 



6. M. atrosangnineum Hiern, sp. n. 



An annual, parasitical, terrestrial herb, about 7 in. high, root 

 orange or atrosanguineous in colour ; stem branched, glabrate 

 and orange soon turning atrosanguineous in colour at the base, 

 puberulous above ; branches erect-patent ; leaves few, small, 

 almost bractiform, rather fleshy, atrosanguineous ; flowers sessile, 

 arranged in spikes terminating the stem and branches; spikes 

 about 2 in. long, dense above, interrupted below, pedunculate, 

 erect ; bracts hispidulous, the lower ones oval sessile and about 

 I to ^ in. long, the upper ones sublinear ; calyx broadly cam- 

 panulate, hispidulous outside, ciliolate, nearly glabrous inside, 

 10-nerved, atrosanguineous, shortly 5-cleft, about ^ in. long; the 

 teeth broadly ovate-triangular, apiculate ; corolla sub-rotate, quite 

 naked inside, scarcely exceeding the calyx, orange in colour ; the 

 tube short; limb 5-lobed ; the lobes obtuse, somewhat spreading 

 in open flower, nerved outside ; stamens 4, without any rudiment 

 of a flfth, inserted at the base of the corolla-tube, subequal, all 

 fertile ; anthers dorsiflxed, almost horseshoe-shaped, 2-celled ; 

 filaments glabrous or (according to Welwitsch) pilose, not densely 

 bearded ; ovary green, globose, glabrous, 2-celled ; ovules numerous 

 in the cells ; style firm ; stigma long, curved, obtuse. 



PuNGO Andongo. — -In secondary thickets between Sansamanda and 

 Caghuy, very sparingly ; fl. 1 May 1857. No. 5853. 



The following No. possibly belongs here : — 



PlTNGO Andongo. — An erect herb, a foot and a half high, purplish 

 throughout, apparently parasitical, simple, puberulous ; leaves almost 

 scale-Uke, lanceolate, dentate, scattered, i to J in. long ; flowers spicate 

 in bud. In bushy meadows at the river Cuanza, near Sansamanda ; 

 one specimen in young fl.-bud April 1857. No. 5890. 



7. M. WelwitsoMi Hiern, sp. n. 



A parasitical herb, in form and mode of growth like an 

 Orohanche ; rhizome very thick, dusky outside, fleshy and yellowish 

 inside ; stems scape-like, scaly, nearly glabrous, leafless, numerous, 

 simple or sparingly branched ; 4 to 7 in. high, cylindrical, orange- 

 purple at the base, purple-dusky towards the spike of flowers; 

 scales small, ovate or oval, obtuse ; calyx subequally 5-cleft, 

 dusky-purple, about ^ in. long; the lobes obtuse, ciliate; corolla 

 orange in colour ; segments of the limb 5, spathulate, somewhat 

 concave at the apex, longitudinally striate outside with prominent 



