490 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



[Vol. 8, No. 5 



Lobelia brassiana E. Wimm. Kew Bull. 1952: 139. 1952. 



Zomba District: Zomba, massed on moist banks in ravines, herb, flowers blue, 

 1150 m., May 27, 1946, 16040 (TYPUS). Endemic to Nyasaland. 



Lobelia intertexta Bak, Kew Bull. 1898: 157. 1898; Hook. f. Bot. Mag. pi. 7615. 

 1898. 



Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain; Chambe Plateau, common on grassland paths, 

 herb 10-30 cm. high, flowers bright blue, 2000 m., July 9, 1946, 16769. Kota- 

 kota District: Nchisi Mountain, occasional among rocks in Brachystegia wood- 

 land, herb, flowers blue, 1600 m., July 26, 1946, 16972. Cholo District: Cholo 

 Mountain, in a clearing on edge of rain-forest, herb 25-40 cm. high, flowers blue, 

 1200 m., Sept. 21, 1946, 17699. Endemic to Nyasaland. 



Professor Wimmer annotates Brass 16769 as "accedens ad f. aridam." 



Lobelia trullifolia Hemsl. in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. 3: 466. 1877. 



Zomba District: Zomba, gregarious on moist banks in ravine, herb 20-40 cm, 

 high, plant pubescent, lower leaves reddish, flowers blue, 1150 m., May 26, 1946, 

 16031. Endemic to Nyasaland. 



Lobelia ? mildbraedii Engl. Wiss. Ergebn. Deutsch. Zentr.-Afr.-Exp. 1907-08 2: 

 344. 1911; E. A. Bruce, Kew Bull. 1934: 73. 1934. 

 North Nyasa District: Nyika Plateau, common in open marshes, shrub 1.5-2.5 

 m. high, branches several, radiating and ascending, terminating in tall erect in- 

 florescences, only young leafy branches and dry inflorescences seen, dry hollow 

 stems 1-1.5 m. long, below a flower-bearing part 50-90 cm. long, sap milky, flow- 

 ers not seen, 2340 m., Aug. 13, 1946, 17211. L. mildbraedii has been previously 

 recorded from the Belgian Congo and Uganda. 



Cephalostigma erectum (Roth) Vatke, Linnaea 38: 699. 1874. 



Dentella erecta Roth, Nov. PI. Sp. Ind. Or. 140. 1821; Cham. & Schlecht. Linnaea 

 4: 151. 1829. 



Wahlenbergia perotifolia Wight & Am. Prodr. Fl. Penins. Ind. 1: 405. 1834; Wight, 



Icon. 3: pi 842. 1943. 

 Dentella perotifolia Willd. ex A. DC in DC Prodr. 7: 434. 1839. 



Cephalostigma hirsutum Edgew. Trans. Linn. Soc. 20: 81. 1846; Hemsl. in Oliv. Fl. 



Trop. Afr. 3: 472. 1877. 

 Cephalostigma schimperi Hochst. ex A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 2. 1851. 

 Cephalostigma peroti folium (Wight & Am.) Hutch. & Dalz. Fl. W. Trop. Afr. 2: 191. 



1931. 



Blantyre District: Blantyre, in Brachystegia woodlands, herb 10 cm. high, 

 flowers pale blue, 1100 m., June 17, 1946, 16342.* Widespread on the E. side of 

 tropical Africa from the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan to S. Rhodesia; also in Nigeria 

 and extending to India. 



This plant presents both taxonomic and nomenclatural difficulty. 



In India botanists have generally recognised two species, C. hirsutum Edgew. 

 and C. schimperi Hochst. ex A. Rich. The main character used has been the 

 seed-shape, conspicuously trigonous in C. hirsutum, compressed but not at all 

 trigonous in C schimperi. In addition there are some rather indefinite characters 

 derived from the leaves and habit: leaves mostly oblong to lanceolate and sessile 

 or nearly so in C. schimperi, broader and more narrowed towards the base in C. 

 hirsutum; the habit of C. hirsutum is shorter, more bushy, more dichotomous and 

 normally lacking the elongate* central axis to the inflorescence found in C. schim- 

 peri. For a statement of the differences, see Haines, Bot. Bihar & Orissa 502 

 (1922). So far as India is concerned these characters are reasonably well cor- 

 related, but when we come to Africa the position appears much more perplexing; 

 it is perfectly possible to find African specimens squaring with C. hirsutum and 



