436 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



[yol. 8, No. 5 



teeth. However^ none of these characters is constant and the species seems very 

 variable in habit, leaf-size, crenation, amount of indumentum, size and density of 

 inflorescence, calyx, etc. The varietal name proposed above seems worth retain- 

 ing provisionally for several gatherings from S. Rhodesia and Nyasaland with very 

 condensed, densely hairy inflorescence and rather broader, acute but scarcely 

 acuminate calyx-teeth. Mr. Brass* is the first gathering of this plant made in 

 Nyasaland, except for a very scrappy specimen collected by Whyte on Mt. Chirad- 

 zulu, which may belong here. 



Since the preceding paragraphs were written, Raymond-Hamet (Bol. Soc. Brot. 

 II. 24: 97 et seq. 1950) has admitted that K. lateritia (and K. angolensis N.E. Br.) 

 are specifically distinct from K. velutina, and discusses the latter species at 

 great length. But nothing is said of K. zimbabwensis. 



DROSERACEAE 



Drosera burkeana Planch. Ann. Sci. Nat. III. 9: 192. 1848; Diels, Pflanzenreich 

 26 (4 na ): 88. 1906. 



Kota-kota District: Nchisi Mountain, seepage-wet ground in Brachystegia 

 woodland, 10-30 cm. high, flowers white, 1400 m., July 29, 1946, Shortridge 

 17013. Uganda to South Africa. 



Drosera madagascariensis DC. Prodr. 1: 318. 1824; Diels, Pflanzenreich 26 (4 112 ): 

 98. 1906. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, several plants on a sunny seepage slope, 

 herb 2-40 cm. high, leaf-hairs red, flower not seen, 1700 m., May 31, 1946, 16107. 

 Widespread in tropical Africa, also in South Africa and Madagascar. 



Drosera sp. 



Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain; Luchenya Plateau, on rocky grassjand 

 slopes, herb 15-20 cm. high, leaves reddish, flowers pink, 1900 m., June 25, 

 1946, 16429. . 



This plant is evidently very closely allied to D. burkeana Planch., differing 

 in the broader petioles which gradually expand into the laminae. In this, as well 

 as in general appearance, it much resembles D. natalensis Diels, Pflanzenreich 

 26 (4 ua ): 93 (1906), a species previously recorded only from Natal and Pondoland. 

 Diels separates D. natalensis and D. burkeana by seed-shape, among other things. 

 Mr. Brass' specimens do not show fruit, and for the same reason I have been un- 

 able to check the validity of the seed-character in the very limited material of D. 

 natalensis available to me. I therefore feel it wiser to leave Mr. Brass' gathering 

 unnamed for the present, to await further material. 



* MYROTHAMNACEAE 



Myrothamnus flabellifolia Welw. Apont. 578. 1858; Weim. Bot. Notiser 1936: 451— 

 462. 1936. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, plentiful on an exposed rocky summit, bushy 

 shrub 30-50 cm. nigh, fragrant with an odour very much like that of sandalwood 

 oil, natives use an infusion of the leaves for bathing sick children, 1820 m., May 

 31, 1946, 16132. Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain, southwest ridge, common lo- 

 cally on rocks wet with seepage, shrub 1-1.5 m. high, leaves reddish, fragrant 

 with an odour like that of sandalwood oil, 2120 m., June 28,. 1946, 16506. Kenya 

 and Tanganyika Territory to the Transvaal and southwest Africa. 



Weimarck (I.e.) recognises two subspecies in addition to typical M. flabelli- 

 folicu Mr. Brass' specimens would probably come under subsp. elongata Weim. 

 For the present I would prefer to look upon M. flabellifolia as a rather variable 

 species, but not to attempt to make subspecies for what may simply be responses 

 to environment. 



