434 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



[Vol. 8, No. 5 



Crassula pentandra (Royle ex Edgew.) Schonl. var. denticulata Brenan, var. nov. 



A typo differt foliorum marginibus incrassatis minute papillosis denticula- 

 tisque, sepalis apice longe attenuatis et ibi albidis ac sparse papilloso-denti- 

 culatis. 



Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain; Luchenya Plateau, common locally on tops 

 of exposed rocks in grassland, herb 10-20 cm. high, reddish, fleshy, 2200 m., 

 July 11, 1946, 16784 (TYPUS varietatis). 



Besides the above, the following specimen is also to be referred to this vari- 

 ety: TIBET: Kyi Chu Valley near Lhasa, Aug. 1904, Capt. H. J. Walton s.n. (Herb. 

 Kew.). 



This new variety seems to differ from the type of the species only in the de- 

 velopment of papillae or denticles on the leaf°margins and sepals. This is par- 

 ticularly noticeable in the apical tufts of young leaves where the roughened 

 apices are numerous and close together. The Tibetan specimen is a dwarf form 

 with stems only up to 4 cm. long, contrasting with the Nyasaland gathering whose 

 stems are up to 20 cm. long. The habit of Crassula pentandra varies widely, and 

 seems to be of no taxonomic significance. 



Crassula sarcocaulis Eckl. & Zeyh. Enum. PI. Afr. Austr. 295. 1837; Schonl. 

 Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Afr. 17: 214. 1929. 



Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain; Luchenya Plateau, stems very thick and 

 pitted, leaves fleshy, subterete, flowers white, 2150 m., July 9, 1946, 16746. 

 Nyasaland and South Africa. 



This plant has been previously collected on Mlanje Mountain, in 1897 (Adam- 

 son 423) and in 1901 (Purves 30); both these specimens are at Kew and have pre- 

 viously not been certainly identified, though both C. parvisepala Schbnl. and C. 

 ericoides Haw. have been suggested as possible affinities; neither of these spe- 

 cies is the same as the Nyasaland plant. I can find no significant difference 

 between these Nyasaland gatherings and C. sarcocaulis , although the latter has 

 been previously recorded from South Africa only. The distribution is unlikely to 

 be as discontinuous as it seems, and C. sarcocaulis should be sought for in the 

 mountains of Southern Rhodesia. 



Crassula globularioides Britten in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. 2: 389. 1871. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, plentiful on rocks on a sunny seepage slope, 

 perennial herb 5=10 cm. high, leaves succulent, apex red, unopened flowers white, 

 other parts of inflorescence red, a very attractive species, forming small "dinner- 

 mats," 1450 m., June 9, 1946, 16327. Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain; Luchenya 

 Plateau, very abundant on dry rocks in grassland, herb 3=10 cm. high, growing in 

 comgact clumps, a very attractive species, petals white, calyx and bracts red, 

 2150 m., July 11, 1946, 16798. Apparently endemic to Nyasaland. 



Crassula alba Forsk. Fl. Aegypt.-Arab. 60. 1775. 



Crassula abyssinica A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss. 1: 309. 1848; Schonl. Trans. Roy. 



Soc. S. Afr. 17: 226. 1929. 

 Crassula mannii Hook. f. Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. 7: 193. 1864; Hutch. & Dalz. Fl. W. 

 Trop. Afr. I: 103, 104. 1927. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, occasional on open grassy slopes, herb 20- 

 40 cm. high, leaves fleshy, flowers white, the corolla persistent and reddish in 

 fruit, 1500 m., June 5, 1946, 16235. Arabia, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan to the Trans- 

 vaal, also on the Cameroon Mountain and in Angola. 



Although Hutchinson and Dalziel (I.e.) maintain C. mannii Hook. f. as dis- 

 tinct, I agree with Britten (in Oliv. Fl. Trop. \fr. 2: 388, 389. 1871) and, ap- 

 parently, Berger (in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenf. ed. 2. 18a: 394. 1930) in be- 

 ing unable to separate the Cameroon Mountain plant from that in East Africa. 

 Whether the varieties established by Schonland under C. abyssinica (Bot. Jahrb. 



