476 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN [Vol. 8, No. 5 



North Nyasa District: Nyika Plateau, locally common in grasslands, shrub 

 30-40 cm. high, stoloniferous, mostly not yet in flower, flowers purple, 2400 m., 

 Aug. 18, 1946, 17311 (TYPUS); ibid., Van der Post s.n. (Herb. Kew.) 



A. subsimplex Brenan is very close to A. nyassana S. Moore, Jour. Linn. Soc. 

 Bot. 35: 339 (1902), and appears to be similar in habit, but differs most conspic- 

 uously in the much shorter phyllaries. In A. nyassana the apical brown part of 

 the phyllaries is about 4-6 mm. long and spirally squarrose, while here it is only 

 about 2-3 mm. long, giving the involucre a more compact appearance. The florets 

 of A. nyassana are white, in A. subsimplex purple. 



Inula mannii (Hook, f.) Oliv. & Hiern in Oliv. FL Trop. Afr. 3: 358. 1877. 

 Vernonia ? mannii Hook. f. Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. 7: 198. 1864. 

 Laggera heteromalla Vatke, Linnaea 39: 487. 1875. 

 Vernonia myriotricha Bak. Kew Bull. 1898: 148 1898. 

 Petrollinia heteromalla (Vatke) Chiov. Ann. di Bot. 9: 71. 1911. 



North Nyasa District: Nyika Plateau, two specimens on grassy edge of mon- 

 tane forest, perennial herb 90-120 cm. high, flowers purplish-brown, inconspicu- 

 ous, 2340 m., Aug. 19, 1946, 17335. Abyssinia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika Ter- 

 ritory, and Nyasaland; also in the British Cameroons; restricted to mountainous 

 regions. 



Oliver and Hiern (I.e.) made Laggera heteromalla Vatke a synonym of Inula 

 mannii. Chiovenda (I.e.) separated the two again, and made Laggera heteromalla 

 the type of a new genus, Petrollinia, which he placed next to P echueULoeschea. 

 He went on to say that Inula mannii, of which he implied that he hadn't seen the 

 type, differs from Petrollinia (translated) "at least by the larger capitula with 

 more numerous florets, and by the pappus with more setae in 1-2 series." 



After dissection of the type of /. mannii (Cameroon Mountain, G. Mann) and of 

 the type-number of Laggera heteromalla (Abyssinia, Schimper 1528), I can only 

 say that the supposed differences between the two are figments of the imagina- 

 tion. The capitula do show a certain amount of variation in size, but this, not 

 surprisingly, is dependent on their age. Most of the capitula on Mann's speci- 

 mens are rather young, but the mature ones are similar in size to those of Schimp- 

 er's Abyssinian plants. On counting the number of florets per capitulum, I found 

 36 in both. The number of pappus-setae ranges from 29-36, and this is again the 

 same for both. Their insertion is also identical. Hooker's original description 

 of the setae of /. mannii as biseriate seems to me misleading; they are closely 

 uniseriate but inserted along a lobulate line round the top of the ovary, so that 

 the circle is an irregular one, not unreasonably described as one- to two-seriate. 



The combination Inula mannii is usually said to have been made by Bentham 

 and Hooker in the Genera P lantarum, but although implying that Vernonia mannii 

 should be shifted to Inula, they do not, in fact, make the necessary combination. 

 The first publication of Inula mannii seems to be in the Flora of Tropical Africa^ 

 and I have therefore fathered Inula mannii onto Oliver and Hiern. 



Inula glomerata Oliv. & Hiern in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. 3: 359. 1877. 



Blantyre District: Blantyre, in Brachystegia woodland, perennial herb up to 

 1.5 m. high, indumentum pale brown, flowers yellow, 1100 m., June 17, 1946, 

 16348.* Kota-kota District: Nchisi Mountain, common in gullies in Brachystegia 

 woodland, 1-1.5 m. high, stem one, simple, erect from a thick woody stock, flow- 

 ers yellow, 1400 m., July 27, 1946, 16986. Tanganyika Territory to S. Rhodesia, 

 Angola, and the Transvaal. 



Inula shirensis Oliv. Hook. Ic. PI. pi. 1399. 1882. 



Kota-kota District: Nchisi Mountain, sporadic in Brachystegia woodland, per- 

 ennial herb 30-70 cm. high, flowers yellow, conspicuous, 1400 m., July 28, 1946, 

 17010. Portuguese East Africa, Nyasaland, and N. Rhodesia. 



