1953] 



PLANTS COLLECTED IN NYAS ALAND 



201 



m., June 7, 1946, 16299. Pantropical. The African form of this common, widely 

 spread, probably aggregate, species has been known as N, undulata but such 

 specific segregation is open to doubt. 



Oleandra distenta Kunze, Bot. Zeit. 9: 347. 1851. 

 O. africana R. Bonap. Notes Pterid. 14: 257. 1923. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, climbing and pendent from trees and rocks 

 in riverine rain-forest, rhizomes several metres long, 1400 m., May 28, 1946, 

 16061; ibid., stems massed and tangled on a rock on river bank, 1500 m., June 7, 

 1946, 16320. Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain; Luchenya Plateau, common 

 epiphyte in forest, 1890 m., June 30, 1946, 16534; ibid., common in primary forest, 

 1890 m., July 12, 1946, 16808. Cholo District: Cholo Mountain, occasional high 

 epiphyte in rain-forest, 1300 m., Sept. 20, 1946, 17671. Tropical and South Africa, 

 Mascarenes. 



CYATHEACEAE 



Cyathea capensis (L.f.) J. E. Sm. Mem. Acad. Turin 5: 417. 1793. 

 Hemitelia capensis (L.f.) Kaulf. Enum. Fil. 253. 1824. 



Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain; Luchenya Plateau, plentiful in forest ra- 

 vines, 2-5 m. high, from plant 2.5 m. high, stem 15 cm. diam. at apex, more slen- 

 der below, leaves 10, rather flat, spreading, 140-160 cm. long, 1820 m., July 2, 

 1946, 16600. 



Cyathea dregei Kunze, Linnaea 10: 551. 1836. 



Kota-kota District: Nchisi Mountain, in rain-forested gulley, 2-3 m. high, stem 

 2.5 m. tall, 28 cm. thick at base, 21 cm. at apex, simple or producing small lateral 

 branches, leaves 16, flat-spreading, 160 cm. long, lamina oblanceolate, stipes 

 45-60 cm. long, pinnae gray below, 1400 m., Aug. 2, 1946, 17102. Zomba Dis- 

 trict: Zomba Plateau, scattered along banks of streams in open grasslands, tree- 

 fern up to 6 m. high, leaves 21, more or less 1.5 m. long, leaf segments bullate, 

 glossy above, 2 small sterile pinnae opposite at base of stipes, flower stem thick- 

 est at apex, leaf bases not persistent, crown flat-spreading, the specimens from a 

 plant more or less 4 m. tall x 20 cm. greatest stem, 1770 m., May 31, 1946, 16137. 

 Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain; Luchenya Plateau, common and conspicuous in 

 forest ravines, and often found in grassy gullies away from forest, tree-fern 3-8 

 m. high, specimen 5 m. tall, stem 35 cm. diam. at apex, leaves 21, 220-240 cm. 

 long, stem thick, crown umbrella- shaped, leaf bases not persistent, 1820 m., 

 July 5, 1946, 16675. 



Cyathea usambarensis Hieron. in Engl. Planzenw. Ost.-Afr. C: 88. 1895. 



North Nyasa District: Nyika Plateau, common in a gulley in montane forest, 

 2-3 m. high, stem 6 cm. thick, including persistent leaf bases of the apical part 

 of the fibrous remains of leaf bases on the lower part, 2300 m., Aug. 13> 1946, 

 17209. Tropical east Africa. C. deckenii Kuhn may possibly be the same species 

 but the original description is inadequate and no authentic material is to hand. 



ASP IDIACEAE 



Athyrium schimperi Moug. ex Fee, Gen. Fil. (V Mem.) 187. 1850-1852. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, erect in small clumps, moist shady roadside, 

 leaves more or less fleshy, 1450 m., June 4, 1946, 16204. Abyssinia, Cameroons, 

 Uganda, Tanganyika Territory, South Africa, and north India. 



Didymochlaena truncatula (Sw.) J. Sm. Jour. Bot. 4: 196. 1841. 

 D. lunulata Desv. Prodr. 282. 1827. 



