1953] 



PLANTS COLLECTED IN NY AS ALAND 



237 



NYASALAND: Mlanje District; Tuchila Plateau, shrub 1.2-1.8 m. high, flowers red, 

 1830 m., Aug., 1901, /. ML Pitrves 76 (Herb. Kew.); Mlanje Mountain; Luchenya Plateau, 

 in forest regrowths, tree or shrub 2-4 m. high, flowers red, fruits red, 2140 m., June 27, 

 1946, 16465; ibid., open rocky bed of a forest stream subject to flooding, shrub 1-1.5 m. 

 high, much branched, compact, flowers red, fruit red, 1850 m., July 8, 1946, 16742; ibid., 

 occasional on rocks in grasslands, shrub up to 1 m. high, flowers red, fruit red, 2200 m., 

 July 11, 1946, 16783 (TYPUS varietatis). 



TRANSVAAL: Zoutpansberg District: 5 m. W. of Wylie's Poort, in "fynbosch" [cri- 

 coid vegetation], up to 1 m. high, berries reddish, 1520 m., Aug. 22, 1930, Hutchinson & 

 Gillett 4409 (Herb. Kew.); Hillside, Franz Hoek Farm, small shrublet, very rare, July 12, 

 1935, E. E. Galpin 14943 (Herb. Kew.); Happy Rest, vicinity of Louis Trichardt, on berg, 

 small tree, smooth bark, 1220 m., Feb. 27, 1946, /. Gerstner 6114 (Herb. Kew.). 



It seems at first sight absurd to make these plants and Brass 16843 variants 

 of the same species. In preliminary sorting I considered them obviously distinct 

 species; but the South African material shows such an extraordinary range of 

 leaf-size and habit that one's faith in facies as a specific character totters 

 alarmingly. 



The new variety is analogous to Gymnosporia acuminata (L.f.) Szysz. var. 

 microp by I la (Sond.) Davison, but var. uva-ursi has the leaves obtuse or sometimes 

 subacute at apex, not acute or acuminate as in var. micTophylla. 



The Nyasaland specimens have leaves ranging from elliptic to narrowly obo- 

 vate, while the Transvaal ones are elliptic to somewhat ovate. By observing this 

 tendency it is possible to deduce the area where a specimen was collected. 

 The difference is so slight that for the present I think it best to consider them 

 as mere forms of a single variety. 



If a leaf is broken across the pieces remain connected by more or less nu- 

 merous elastic cobwebby threads; the same thing happens whether the plant is 

 living or in the herbarium, and in South Africa this is used as a "spot-character" 

 for Maytenus acuminata in its protean forms. 



Maytenus cymosa (Soland.) Exell, Bol. Soc. Brot. II. 26: 222. 1952. 



Celastrus buxifolius L. Sp. Pi. 197. 1753, pro parte; non Maytenus buxifolia Griseb. 

 Celastrus cymosus Soland. Bot. Mag. pi. 2070. 1819. 



Gymnosporia buxifolia (L.) Szysz. Enum. Polyp. Discifl. Rehm. 34. 188; Engl. 

 Pflanzenw. Afr. 3 a : 227. /. 113. 1921; Davison, Bothalia 2: 317. 1927. 



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

 woodland, shrub 4-5 m. high, branches thorny, weak and subscandent, flowers 

 white, 840 m., June 20, 1946, 16377, Widespread from southern Spain through 

 tropical Africa to South Africa. 



Maytenus welwitschiana Exell & Mendonqa, nom. nov. [A. W. E. & F. A. M. ] 



Celastrus euonymoides Welw. ex Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. 1: 362. 1868; non Maytenus 



evonymoides Reiss. 

 Gymnosporia euonymoides (Welw. ex Oliv.) Loes. Bot. Jahrb. 17: 547. 1893. 



Kota-kota District: Chenga Hill, occasional on dry rocks, shrub 1-1.5 m. 

 high, petals white, ovary red, 1600 m., Sept. 9, 1946, 17601, Previously known 

 only from Angola, thus new to Nyasaland; similar plants occur in Tanganyika 

 Territory. 



Brass 17601 has rusty-pubescent twigs, leading me to wonder whether it 

 might not be Gymnosporia ferruginea Bak., described from Mount Zomba. So I 

 examined the type-specimen of C. ferruginea and found, rather surprisingly, a 

 gamopetalous corolla, no stamens at all, despite the fact that Baker mentions 

 them in his description, and a central pubescent quadrilocular ovary with 4 short 

 styles at its apex. Obviously it is not a Gymnosporia but a Euclea in the family 

 Ebenaceae, and one that does not appear to have a name; a new name is there- 

 fore suggested. 



