Portulaca] xvn. portulace^e. 53 



Forma pendula Welw. ms. in Herb. 



Stem 1£ to 4 ft. long or more, smooth, persisting for several years, 

 pendulous, brittle, cylindrical, rose-purple, glassy ; nodes more distant 

 than in the type ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, rather thick, glaucous-green, 

 densely bearded in the axils ; calyx very deeply bilobed membranous- 

 whitish, surrounded with whitish pilose hairs, involucred by the leaves ; 

 petals 4, yellow, elongate-ovate, cruciately opposite, rather obtuse but 

 mucronate, quickly marcescent ; stamens 12, shorter than the petals ; 

 filaments filiform, bifariously bearded ; stigmas 4, linear, ^% in. long, 

 deflexed. 



Loanda.— By dampish densely bushy rocks to the east of Loanda, 

 near Boa Vista, fl. and fr. Feb. 1854. No. 1100&. 



The following has been doubtfully referred to this species by 

 Oliver, I.e. : — 



Mossamedes. — A small fleshy perennial herb, root fusiform, stems 

 short, succulent, purple, prostrate-ascending, pilose at the nodes ; cap- 

 sule as in the genus. Sporadic in bushy places near red-sandy rocks by 

 the river Bero, at Boca do Rio Bero, fr. July 1859. No. 1108. 



4. P. saxifragoides Welw. ex Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. i. p. 149. 

 Pungo Andongo. — A little herb, with the habit of Saxifraga hiflora 



All. or of S. qppositifolia L., 1 to 2 or occasionally 3 in. high ; annual ? 

 or perhaps lasting for several years by means of its fleshy rather thick 

 simple rhizome, which is divaricately fibrous towards its apex ; stems 

 small, cylindrical, fleshy, purple, brittle, several and prostrate-ascending 

 from the apex of the rhizome, the younger ones densely leafy, with 

 distant branches ; leaves exactly opposite, sessile, ovate or ovate- 

 lanceolate, fleshy, flat-convex, rather obtuse (almost as in Sedum 

 dasyphyllum L.), ^ to £ in. long, succulent, glaucous-green, greenish- 

 purplish in the living state, very densely villous at the axils, with the 

 hairs conglomerated and but little conspicuous on the living plant but 

 spreading and exceeding the leaves on the dried plant ; internodes -& 

 to I in. long, the uppermost ones shorter ; flowers crowded in a capitate 

 manner at the apex of the stems and branches, involucrate there with 

 the ovate-lanceolate crowded leaves, milk-white, ^ to ^ in. long, tubular- 

 campanulate ; calyx white, tubular at the base, sessile, bifid, with 

 elongate-ovate concave obtuse lobes, reaching one third the height of 

 the corolla ; corolla gamopetalous from the base to near the middle, 

 tubular below with 4 obtuse lobes and slightly spreading limb ; 

 stamens 4, alternating with the corolla-lobes and inserted a little 

 below their base, erect, included ; filaments very slender ; anthers 

 «longate-oblong, with 2 linear cells ; style filiform, equalling the corolla, 

 rather deeply bifid at the apex, with the lobes stigmatose on the internal 

 face ; capsule concealed by the leaves of the involucre, subsessile, 

 spherical-conical, shining, narrowly mammillate at the apex with a 

 conical opening ; seeds few, orbicular-subrenif orm, occasionally rather 

 compressed, black, glossy, delicately punctulate. In the elevated rocky 

 parts of the mountains called Pedras de G-uinga, among short and 

 scanty herbage, rare and seen in only one locality ; fl. and fr. March 

 1857. No. 1106. 



5. P. sedoides Welw. ex Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. i. p. 149. 

 Pungo Andongo. — A dwarf annual herb, 1 to 2 in. high, almost 



wholly red-purplish, with the habit of a Sedum or a Cochlearia or often 

 of Montia fontana L. ; stems erect or ascending, dichotomous or tri 

 chotomous ; leaves opposite, fleshy, papillose-striate (as well as the 



