108 xxix. geraniace;b. [Monsonia 



fold themselves inwards and then share the upward motion of the 

 petioles; the same position is taken up during the sleep of the 

 plant. Brown in the Appendix to Tuckey's Congo, page 433, 

 Alludes to the property of irritability in this group of plants. 

 Impatiens Bcdsamina L., called by the Portuguese "Papagaios" or 

 ■" Melindres," is cultivated by some horticulturists, and the climate 

 of Angola does not disagree with it (see Welw. Apont. p. 567, under 

 m. 163) ; but no specimen is preserved in his herbarium. 



1. MONSONIA L. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. p. 271. 



1. M. biflora DC. Prodr. i. p. 638 (1824); Oliv., I.e., p. 290. 



Huilla. — An annual herb, branched from the base, suberect, 

 nodosely inflated at the insertion of the leaves, musk-scented combined 

 with an acid-aromatic odour ; petals white or somewhat purple, trun- 

 cate ; stigmas 5, elliptical, dark purple, stigmatose on the inner (top) 

 surface ; seeds dark brown, obovate-clavate ; cotyledons green, ex- 

 albuminous, foliaceous, ftexuous ; radicle descending. In exposed 

 situations near dwellings and in neglected plots of cultivation, about 

 Lopollo and in the direction of Quilengues, frequent ; fl. and fr. 

 27 Jan. 1860. No. 1606. 



2. SARCOCAULON Sweet; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. p. 272. 

 1. S. mossamedense Hiern. 



Monsonia mossamedensis Welw. ex Oliv. PI. Trop. Afr. i. p. 290. 



Mossambdes. — A small prostrate shrub ; stem and branches resinous- 

 fleshy, very rigid, readily inflammable even in the living state ; bark 

 greyish — sometimes reddish — in old age often chalky- white ; the older 

 stems bristling with the conversion of the stipules and petioles into 

 spines, the very old ones unarmed and glabrate or smooth ; petals con- 

 nivent in a campanulate manner, lilac-purple or rose-coloured, varying 

 in size ; stamens and stigmas pale blue. On stony chalk hills, sparingly 

 grassy, at an elevation of 100 to 200 ft. above the sea, in Serra de 

 Montes Negros to the east of Mossamedes, fl. 10 August 1859. No. 1607- 



<S. Marlothii Engl. Jahbr. x. p. 31, t. iv. fig. a (1888) differs by obtuse 

 not apiculate sepals. 



3. PELARGONIUM L'Herit. ; Benth. & Hook. Gen. PI. i. p. 273. 

 1. P. flabellifolium Harv. in Harv. & Sond. Fl. Cap. i. p. 277 



(1860), non Sweet ; var. benguellense Welw. ex Oliv. PI. Trop. 

 Afr. i. p. 294. 



Huilla. — Scapes about 6 in. high, somewhat branched near the base ; 

 petals remarkably fragrant in the evening, tubular-connivent. In the 

 sandy parts of rather open mixed woods, in Matas de Monino, between 

 Lopollo and the river Monino, sporadic, sparingly with flowers in Oct. 

 1859, (fr. and) adult leaves Jan. 1860. No. 1605. 



The type of the species, to a variety of which Professor Oliver re- 

 ferred this plant, belongs to the Transvaal, Natal, and the Orange Free 

 State ; Welwitsch regarded his plant as perhaps a distinct species. 



Tropceolum majus L. occurs occasionally in abundance in neglected 

 spots of cultivation and subspontaneously about the colony of Lopollo, 

 without doubt originally introduced with seeds of culinary vegetables ; 

 it thrives well in the climate of Huilla ; fl. Dec. 1859. No. 1619. 



