1953] 



PLANTS COLLECTED IN NY ASALAND 



229 



Triumfetta welwitschii Mast. var. descampsii (De Wild. & Th. Dur.) Brenan, 

 comb. nov. 



Triumfetta descampsii De Wild. & Th. Dur. Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belg. 39: 95. 1901. 

 Triumfetta mastersii Bak. f. var. descampsii (De Wild. & Th. Dur.) Sprague & Hutch. 

 Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. 39: 252. 1909. 



Dedza District: Dedza, sporadic in Brachystegia woodland, perennial herb, 

 young shoots flowering after the burning of the grass, rootstock more or less 

 fleshy, flowers yellow, 1500 m., Sept. 13, 1946, 17627.* Transvaal to southwest- 

 ern Tanganyika Territory and the Belgian Congo. 



The var. descampsii in my view covers those forms of T. welwitschii in which 

 the leaves become rapidly glabrous or nearly so on the lower surface, and are not 

 more or less densely and persistently stellate-tomentellous beneath as in typical 

 T. welwitschii. Intermediates occur, and the view that descampsii cannot be 

 separated specifically is undoubtedly correct. As in T. welwitschii proper the 

 width of the leaves in var. descampsii varies a good deal. The type of Triumfetta 

 descampsii (Belgian Congo: Babondo, Lomami, July 5, 1891, Descamps s.n.) 

 which, through the kindness of the Director of the Jardin Botanique de l'Etat, 

 Brussels, I have had on loan, shows unusually broad leaves 1.5-2.4 cm. wide, 

 contrasting with the normally much narrower leaves of specimens from elsewhere. 

 I do not consider, however, that leaf-width is of any great taxonomic significance 

 in this species. 



Triumfetta rhoroboidea Jacq. Enum. PI. Carib. 22. 1760; Sprague & Hutch. Jour. 

 Linn. Soc. Bot. 39: 266. 1909. 

 Cholo District: Cholo Mountain, frequent in young rain-forest regrowth, shrub 

 1-2 m. high, flowers yellow, 1200 m., Sept. 19, 1946, 17645. Throughout the 

 tropics. 



Triumfetta pilosa Roth, Nov. PI. Sp. Ind. Or. 223. 1821; var. nyasana Sprague & 

 Hutch. Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. 39: 274. 1909. 

 Kota-kota District: Nchisi Mountain, shrubby rain-forest borders, shrub 1.5 m. 

 high, 1500 m., July 29, 1946, 17019. The species in the tropics of the Old World; 

 the var. in East Africa from Uganda to S. Rhodesia and Portuguese East Africa. 



Triumfetta effusa E. Mey. ex Harv. & Sond. Fl. Cap. 1: 228. I860; Sprague & 

 Hutch. Jour, Linn. Soc. Bot. 39: 275. 1909. 

 Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain, west slope, in low brush on rocky slopes, 

 shrub 1 m. high, 1880 m., July 18, 1946, 16865. N. and S. Rhodesia to South 

 Africa; new to Nyasaland. 



Sparrmannia L. f. 



There has been difference of opinion about the spelling of this generic name. 

 In Suppl. Plant. (1781), where this genus was published, the following references 

 occur: 



p. 41. The genus is described with the spelling "Sparmannia." 

 Lower down it is said that the genus is named "In memoriam Andreae Sparr- 

 raann." 



p. 265. Sparrmannia [sic] africana is described, 

 p. 462 (index). "Sparrmannia 41. 265." 

 It is clear from this that the spelling intended by Linnaeus fil. was Sparr- 

 mannia and that Sparmannia was an unintentional orthographic error. 



Sparrmannia ricinocarpa (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 3 3 : 26. 1898; Wei- 

 marck, Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 27: 400 et. seq. 1933. 

 Urena ricinocarpa Eckl. & Zeyh. Enum. PI. Afr. Austr. 1: 37. 1835. 



