332 xlix. MYROTHAMNACE.E. [Myrotkammus 



fumigations in the treatment of rheumatic pains and sudden paralysis ; 

 also the Portuguese colonists hold in high esteem its medicinal virtues 

 and keep its dried branches instead of incense to perfume their houses ; 

 it is probable that it is on this account that the colonists give it the 

 name of " Alecrim das paredes" (wall-rosemary), though in habit it is 

 very little or not at all like the rosemary of Portugal. The native name 

 is " Cachinde-Candange." (See Welwitsch, Synopse, p. 26, n. 58.) 



Welwitsch latterly thought that this plant was the type of a new 

 Natural Order allied to Salicacese, and Engler has adopted the name 

 Myrothamnacese. 



L. HALOEAGEiE. 

 1. SERPICULA L. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PL i. p. 675. 



1. S. repens L. Mant. PI. (i.) p. 124 (1767); Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. i. 

 p. 405. 



Var. brachypoda Welw. ms. 



A herb, perennial or at least lasting for several years ; rootstock 

 becoming more or less woody, densely fibrillose ; stems red, cylin- 

 drical, decumbent-rooting, crowded ; the flowering shoots leafy, 

 erect or ascending ; leaves alternate, linear-lanceolate, rather 

 obtuse, more or less congested towards the apex of the shoots ; 

 flowers clustered in the axils of the leaves, polygamous, very small, 

 the upper ones male or hermaphrodite, few and shortly pedicellate, 

 the lower ones female and mostly without petals ; calyx adnate to 

 the ovary, with a superior 4-cleft limb ; petals 4, valvate, rather 

 erect, closely embracing the anthers in the bud, inserted on the 

 calyx, alternate with its lobes, red, more than twice as long as 

 the calyx-lobes ; stamens 4, alternate with the petals ; filaments 

 filiform, very slender ; anthers oblong-linear, almost as long as 

 the petals, 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscing; pollen whitish; ovary 

 inferior, in the male flowers barren, in the female flowers globose- 

 ovate ; stigmas 4, sessile, papilliform, red, erect. 



In habit like the type of the species, but the male flowers sub- 

 sessile or very shortly pedicellate, and the plant rather glabrous or 

 usually hirtulo-pubescent, the pedicels much shorter than the 

 flowers and many times shorter than the leaves ; leaves entire or 

 towards the apex with a few teeth directed upwards and unequal. 

 The whole plant always more or less reddish, sometimes dwarf, 

 lj to 2 in., sometimes reaching a foot or more and then with 

 broader and often dentate leaves. 



Huilla— In swampy places at the banks of the river Quipum- 

 punhime, in Humpata, in company with species of Lobelia, other 

 Campanulaceas, Utricularia, etc. ; fl. Oct. 1859. No. 1621a. Very 

 abundant in swamps throughout the district, in company with species 

 of Trifolium, Limosella, etc. ; fl. Nov. and Dec. 1859 and Jan. 1860. 

 Tarious forms with entire and toothed leaves at the banks of the river of 

 Lopollo, between 4000 and 5000 ft. alt., Nov. and Dec. 1859. No. 16216. 



In Apont. p. 569 under n. 167, Welwitsch states that he met with on 

 the banks of the river Dande a plant without fructification which 

 probably belonged to the genus Myriophyllum ; unfortunately the 



