224 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN [VoL 8, No. 3 



A close relative of P. urens Cav., separable by habit and fruit. The specimen 

 cited is not very typical in habit, and the fruits are not yet formed: consequently 

 an exact identification is impossible. P. stolzii was described from S. W. Tan- 

 ganyika Territory, but plants that I consider (e descr. et icon.) to be this have 

 been previously collected in Nyasaland (McClounie 142 from the Nyika Plateau, 

 Meller s.n. from Mount Chiradzulu, and Buchanan 145 without exact locality). 



Pavonia columella Cav. Tert. Dissert. Bot. 138, pi. 48, f. 3. 1787; Ulbr. Bot. 

 Jahrb. 57: 135. 1920. 

 Pavonia meyeri Mast, in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. 1: 191. 1868. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, on moist river-bank, shrub 1.5 m. high, flow- 

 ers pink, showy, 1450 m., June 2, 1946, Anthony 16147. Cholo District: Cholo 

 Mountain, frequent in rain-forest regrowth, shrub 2-3 m. high, plant viscid, flow- 

 ers pink, 1200 m., Sept. 22, 1946, 17740. Nyasaland to South Africa, also in 

 Madagascar and Reunion. 



There has been considerable doubt hitherto about the right name for this 

 species; some, following Ulbrich, have maintained P. columella, others (e.g. 

 Burtt Davy, Fl. Transvaal 2: 278. 1932), stating that P. columella, which was 

 based on a plant from Bourbon, is not conspecific with the plant of continental 

 Africa, have therefore used the name P. meyeri. In an endeavour to decide be- 

 tween these views, the type of P. columella Cav., which is in Herb. Antoine Lau- 

 rent de Jussieu (No. 12348) at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle at Paris, 

 was borrowed, and thanks are due to the authorities of that institution for their 

 courtesy in this matter. 



The type-specimen does not represent the normal continental African plant, 

 being more glabre scent than usual, with shorter indumentum on the stem. The 

 alleged difference in the calyx (see Burtt Davy, I.e.) eludes me. But I can detect 

 no differences other than those of the indumentum, which are slight and a matter 

 of degree; and I can match the glabrescence of the leaves and the shortness of 

 the stem-indumentum in specimens from continental Africa. 



I am therefore not prepared to consider P. columella specifically separable 

 from P. meyeri, although the African plant may be a variety. The material from 

 Bourbon is much too limited at present to judge of this, and I feel it wiser to 

 follow Ulbrich in treating P. meyeri as a synonym of P. columella Cav. 



Hibiscus praeteritus R. A. Dyer, FL PL S. Afr. 11: pi. 436. 193L 



Chikwawa District: Chikwawa, occasional in dry brushy forest of elevated 

 river-plain, shrub 2 m. high, flowers red, 200 m., Oct. 2, 1946, 17888. Nyasaland 

 and Angola to the Transvaal. 



Hibiscus shirensis Sprague & Hutch. Kew Bull. 1907: 47. 1907. 



Mlanje District: Likubula, on edge of a marsh, flowers pink, 820 m., June 27, 

 1946, Vernay 16489*. Kota-kota District: Kota-kota, shrub, flowers purple, 450 

 m., Aug., 1946, Vernay 17402*. Nyasaland and Portuguese East Africa, a pos- 

 sible variant in N. Rhodesia and the adjacent part of the Belgian Congo. 



Hibiscus rhodanthus Gurke apud Schinz, Bull. Herb. Boiss. 3: 405. 1895. 



Kota-kota District: Nchisi Mountain, beside a path in Brachystegia woodland, 

 shrub, flowers scarlet, very showy, 1400 id., July 25, 1946, Shortridge 16925*; 

 ibid., roadsides in Brachystegia woodland, shrub, flowers scarlet, showy, 1400 

 m., July 26, 1946, 16970. Tanganyika Territory to S. Rhodesia and Angola. 



Hibiscus gossypinus Thunb. Prodr. Fl. Cap. 118. 1800. 



Blantyre District: Blantyre, edge of a native village, shrub 2 m. high, brown- 

 hairy, flowers white, 1100 m., June 17, 1946, 16341. Cholo District: Cholo 



