458 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



[V(o/. 8, No. 5 



feel morally sure that a duplicate of this specimen was the basis for G. scabrel- 

 lum and that by some error of reading or transcription the collector was wrongly 

 given as Carson. I therefore propose that, unless further evidence appears, Whyte 

 269 in the Kew Herbarium be accepted as an isotype of Galium scabrellum K. 

 Schum. 



G. scabrellum, as here interpreted, is a yellow-flowered species, closely re- 

 lated to G, mollicomum Bullock, differing in its climbing or rambling growth with 

 elongate stems, broader leaves with ± close reflexed teeth (in G. mollicomum the 

 teeth are often absent but if present are ascending), and the diffuse inflorescence. 



DIPSACACEAE" 



Scabiosa columbaria L. Sp. PI. 99. 1753; Hiern in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. 3: 252. 

 1877. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, common in Brachystegia woodlands, herb 70 

 cm. high, only one plant found in flower, flowers purple, 1500 m., June 6, 1946, 

 16285*. Kota-kota District: Chenga Hill, sporadic in low open Brachystegia 

 woodland, perennial herb 35-40 cm. high, flowers white, 1600 m., Sept. 9, 1946, 

 17593*. The species, taken in a wide sense, in Europe, Asia, and N. Africa, ex- 

 tending southward through tropical Africa to the Cape. 



Mr. B. L. Burtt considers that both these specimens are best called S. co- 

 lumbaria, in a wide sense. It is a very widespread and protean species so that, 

 not surprisingly, these African representatives look different from the more fa- 

 miliar plant of Britain. No doubt it will prove possible to assign them to geo- 

 graphical varieties or subspecies, but first it will be necessary to study how the 

 species as a whole varies. 



COMPOSITAE 34 



Volkensia ripensis Hutch. Botanist in Southern Africa 508. 1946. 



Kota-kota District: Nchisi Mountain, occasional in swampy rain°forest of a 

 gully, herb 2.5 m. high, stems simple, erect, flowers pale purple, 1400 m., Aug. 

 2, 1946, 17101. Nyasaland and N. Rhodesia. 



Erlangea milanjiensis S. Moore, Jour. Bot. 46: 157. 1908. 



Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain, southwest ridge, edges of stunted forest in 

 a gully, shrub 1.5 m. high, with several stems erect from a common base, flowers 

 purple, 2120 m., June 28, 1946, 16518; Luchenya Plateau, occasional among shel- 

 tering rocks in grasslands, shrub 1.5 m. high, branches few, erect, flowers purple, 

 2150 m., July 9, 1946, 16747; ibid., frequent among sheltering rocks in grass- 

 lands,*shrub 1-1.5 m. high, flowers pale purple, 2150 m., July 11, 1946, 16787. 

 Endemic to Mlanje Mountain. 



Erlangea marginata (Oliv. & Hiern) S. Moore, Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. 35: 310. 1902. 



Vemonia marginata Oliv. & Hiern in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. 3: 278. 1877. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, locally common in Brachystegia woodlands, 



herb 1-1.5 m. high, with erect single stem rather freely branched, leaves grey 



beneath, flowers purple, 1500 m., June 5, 1946, 16258. Cholo District: Cholo 



Mountain, occasional in rain-forest regrowth, herb 1 m. high, leaves grey beneath, 



flowers purple, 1200 m., Sept. 21, 1946, 17702. East Africa from Uganda to 



Nyasaland. 

 1 



Determinations by B. L. Burtt, formerly at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 

 Cras soc eph alum by E. Milne-Redhead, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 



