1954] 



PLANTS COLLECTED IN NY AS ALAND 



443 



always solitary. There is no fundamental difference here; it is simply that in /. 

 abyssinica the internodes of the axillary flower-bearing axes always remain short 

 and the bracts subtending the individual flowers are normally (not quite always) 

 scale-like; while in J, linifolia the internodes elongate, the flowers thus becom- 

 ing spaced and solitary, and subtended by bracts which become foliaceous. In 

 addition /. abyssinica has the ovaries quite glabrous, while in /, linifolia they 

 are very minutely puberulous; a x 20 lens (and a good light!) are necessary for 

 discerning this difference. The fruits of /. abyssinica are more or less cylindri- 

 cal and equal or approximately so in diameter at top and bottom, while those of 

 /. linifolia are normally distinctly wider in their upper quarter or half than below, 

 and this upper portion is smoother and less torulose. 



It will be seen that the transfer of Ludwigia abyssinica to Jussiaea breaks 

 down the accepted key-character used for separating these two genera (stamens 

 as many as sepals in Ludwigia, twice as many in J ussiaea). Most botanists 

 would agree that the results of separation by such a character are often far from 

 natural. But whatever the status of Ludwigia as a genus, it seems manifestly 

 unnatural to separate generically, merely on account of stamen number, Ludwigia 

 abyssinica and Jussiaea linifolia, which have in common the very remarkable way 

 in which seed and endocarp are combined in the ripe capsule, and whose close 

 resemblance in other features has been only too confusingly obvious. 



I have examined the type of /. abyssinica, courteously sent on loan by the 

 Museum National d'Kistoire Nature lie at Paris, and have found it to agree with 

 the interpretation we have used here. 



CUCURBITACEAE 



Momprdica fasciculata Cogn. Bull. Herb. Boiss. 5 : 636. 1897; Cogn. & Harms, 

 Pflanzenreich 88 ( 4 275 (2 >): 38. 1924. 

 Chikwawa District: Chikwawa, frequent in dry stony woodland, several shortly 

 scandent stems produced from a large laterally flattened taproot, flowers yellow, 

 conspicuous, 200 m., Oct. 5, 1946, 17984. Portuguese East Africa; new to 

 Nyasaland. 



It is likely that this species is wrongly placed generically, since the 6* flow- 

 ers lack the system of basal scales found in genuine Momordica. Little more can 

 be done at present, ? flowers, fruits and mature leaves of M. fasciculata being 

 still unknown. 



Momordica foetida Schumach. in Schumach. & Thonn. Beskr. Guin. PI. 426 (1827) 

 var. villosa Cogn. Bot. Jahrb. 21: 208. 1895; Cogn. & Harms, Pflanzen- 

 reich 88 (4 275 (2) ): 43. 1924. 

 Cholo District: Cholo Mountain, trailing on old garden land, vine with pale 

 yellow flowers, 1200 m., Sept. 25, 1946, 17807; ibid., trailing in old gardens, fruit 

 immature, 1200 m., Sept. 26, 1946, 17829 > The species widespread in Africa, 

 the variety recorded from Tanganyika Territory and Ruanda, new to Nyasaland. 



Hymenosicyos sp. [cf. H subsericeus (Hook, f.) Harms]. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, one example in secondary rain-forest, vine 

 3 m. high, flowers yellow, fruit green, immature, 1550 m., June 7, 1946, 16315. 



Material insufficient for certain specific determination. H. subsericeus is 

 known from Tanganyika Territory and Angola. 



Melothria ? sp. nov. aff. microsperma (Hook, f.) Cogn. 



Kota-kota District: Nchisi Mountain, climbing in forest opening, vine 1.5 m. 

 high, flowers yellow, fruit to 1 cm. in diameter, globose, bluish-green (unripe), 

 1550 m., July 30, 1946, 17037. 



