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PLANTS COLLECTED IN NY ASALAND 



217 



Boscia corymbosa Gilg in Engl. Pflanzenw. Ost-Afr. C: 189. 1895. 



Kasungu District: Kasungu Hill, occasional on dry rocky slopes, vase-shaped 

 tree, 6-7 m. high, branches suberect, flowers yellow-green, fruit green, 1100 m., 

 Aug. 28, 1946, 17457. Nyasaland and Portuguese East Africa. 



Boscia salicifolia Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. 1: 93. 1868. 



Chikwawa District: Chikwawa, occasional on river-plains, tree to 15 m. high, 

 trunk up to 40 cm. diameter, branchlets pendent, fruit unripe, native name (Chin- 

 yanja) mbwazi, 200 m., Oct. 4, 1946, 17941. Widely spread from the Gold Coast 

 east to the A.-E. Sudan and south to S. Rhodesia. 



Maerua flagellars (Oliv.) Gilg & Benedict, Bot. Jahrb. 53: 244. 1915. 



Maerua nervosa (Hochst.) Oliv. var. flagellaris Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. 1: 87. 1868. 



Kasungu District: Kasungu, frequent in Brachystegia woodland, vine 6-10 m., 

 profusely branched and forming large green masses on trees, flowers green, native 

 name (Chinyanja) nangunega, 1000 m., Aug. 25, 1946, 17420; ibid., common in 

 Acacia-Bauhinia savanna, shrub 1 m. high, straggling, sepals and petals green, 

 filaments yellowish-white, 1000 m., Aug. 28, 1946, 17450. Chikwawa District: 

 Chikwawa, occasional in Acacia woodland, vine 10-15 m. high, flowers greenish- 

 white, fruit immature, 200 m., Oct. 3, 1946, 17911. Tanganyika to S. Rhodesia. 



Maerua angolensis DC. Prodr. 1: 254. 1824. 



Kota-kota District: Kota-kota, on old cultivated land, tree about 8 m. high, 

 flowers green, stamens yellow, 450 m., Aug. 7, 1946, G. C. Shortridge 17390. 

 Kasungu District: Kasungu, one example on old garden land, tree 4 m. high, 

 sepals green, stamens greenish-white, later yellow, 1000 m., Aug. 27, 1946, 

 17440. Widely spread in the savannah regions of tropical Africa. 



Maerua sp. 



Mlanje District: Likubula Gorge, on a termite-mound in Brachystegia-Uapaca 

 woodland, shrub 5 m. high, subscandent, fruit green, somewhat fleshy and muci- 

 laginous, 840 mi, June 20, 1946, 16378. 



This specimen belongs to a small group of species including M. cylindricarpa 

 Gilg & Benedict, M. hoehnelii Schweinf. ex Engl., and M. pubescens (Klotzsch) 

 Gilg, the taxonomy of which has not yet been satisfactorily worked out. More 

 field observation is required in order to assess the value of the degree of indu- 

 mentum and length of pedicel for diagnostic purposes. 



Courbonia glauca (Klotzsch) Gilg & Benedict, Bot. Jahrb. 53: 221. 1915. 



Physantbemum glaucum Klotzsch in Peters, Reise Mossamb. Bot. 167. pi. 29. 1862. 

 Courbonii camporum Gilg & Benedict, Bot. Jahrb. 53: 220. 1915. 

 Courbonia calothamna Gilg & Benedict, Bot. Jahrb. 53: 221. 1915. 



Chikwawa District: Chikwawa, frequent in dry bushy forest of elevated river- 

 plain, shrub 1 m. high, spreading, leaves very glaucous, flowers greenish-white, 

 native name (Chinyanja) kungoni, 200 m., Oct. 2, 1946, 17890. Widely spread from 

 Kenya and Uganda to Portuguese East Africa and the Transvaal. 



I am unable to separate these three species, as I find the diagnostic char- 

 acters given by Gilg and Benedict are unsound. The young leaves which are 

 present at the time of flowering look very different from the mature leaves found 

 on fruiting specimens. It seems that the plant may flower on shoots arising di- 

 rectly from the rootstock as a result of the burning off of the previous year's 

 growth, or if protected from fire it may form a densely branched shrub several 

 meters high. I have not been able to examine authentic material of C. decumbens 

 A. Brongn., but I would not be surprised to find that Oliver was correct in plac- 

 ing Physantbemum glaucum Klotzsch as a synonym of that name, which was pub- 



