1954] 



PLANTS COLLECTED IN NY AS ALAND 



495 



Ericinella microdonta (C. H. Wright) Aim & Fries var. craspedotricha Brenan, 

 var. nov. 



Folia margine glandulis sessilibus necnon pilis albidis anguste conicis regu- 

 lariter dispositis breviter ciliata. 



Mlanje District: 1915, Mrs. Arthur Skinn s.n. (Herb. Mus. Brit.). Mlanje Pla- 

 teau, /. McClounie 65 (Herb, Kew.). Mlanje Mountain, Adamson 333, 376 (Herb. 

 Kew.); Tuchila Plateau, shrub 1.2-1.8 m. high, flowers white, 1830 m., May 1900, 

 /. M. Purves 23 (Herb. Kew.); Luchenya Plateau, occasional in grassland edging 

 rain-forest, attractive shrub 1-1.5 m. high, flowering profusely, corolla white, 

 anthers and stigma red, I860 m., June 26, 1946, 16446; southwest ridge, plentiful 

 among rocks on summit, tree or shrub 2-4 m. high, habit compact, gnarled, 2400 

 m., June 28, 1946, 16497 (TYPUS varietatis in Herb. Kew.); ibid., amongst rocks 

 on grassy slopes, arborescent shrub 2-3 m. high, flowers white, 2200 m., June 

 28, 1946, 16502; Luchenya Plateau, plentiful on grassy brink of an escarpment, 

 shrub 1-2 m. high, corolla white, anthers and pedicels red, I960 m., July 16, 

 1946, 16852. Zomba District: Zomba, 1930, /. B. Clements 102 (Herb. Kew.). 

 North Nyasa District (?): South Nyika Mountains, 1220-1830 m., July 1896, A, 

 Whyte s.n. (Herb. Kew.). 



The various McClounie numbers — 55, 75, 95 — given by C. H. Wright with his 

 original description of Blaeria microdonta, and all from Mlanje Mountain, are uni- 

 form and agree with McClounie 40 and Brass 16416 in having the leaves fringed 

 along their margins only with minute regularly spaced sessile or subsessile 

 glands. The specimens cited under var„ craspedotricha likewise have these 

 glands, but also, regularly spaced among them, short, whitish, narrowly conical, 

 eglandular hairs, of course considerably longer than the glands. The leaves of 

 var.- craspedotricha are less regularly and neatly imbricate than those of the type. 

 The type and the variety may perhaps inhabit different altitudes, but this requires 

 further observation in Nyasaland. Aim and Fries (Svensk. Vet.-Akad, Handl. Ill, 

 4 4 : 46, 47. 1927) did not distinguish from the type the new variety now described, 

 but to me they appear well worth separation,, 



Blaeria kiwuensis Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 43: 346. 1909; Aim & Fries, Acta Horti Berg. 

 8: 258. 1925. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, on edges of a path in open grasslands, shrub 

 20-50 cm. high, flowers pink, calyx viscid, 1700 m., May 31, 1946, 16139. Mlanje 

 District: Mlanje Mountain; Luchenya Plateau, locally common on hard soil in open 

 grasslands, shrub about 15-40 cm. high, flowers pink, 2000 m., June 27, 1946, 

 16471; ibid., common in open grasslands, shrub 40-50 cm, high, flowers pink, 

 2150 m., June 27, 1946, 16485; southwest ridge, plentiful in grass on summit, 

 shrub 35-50 cm. high, upper parts viscid, flowers pink, 2400 m., June 28, 1946, 

 16499. North Nyasa District? Nyika Plateau, sporadic in open grasslands, shrub, 

 greyish, flowers purplish-pink, 2350 m., Aug. 19, 1946, 17340, Ruanda-Urundi, 

 Tanganyika Territory, and Nyasaland. 



Brass 17340 has the leaves almost eglandular, in this resembling Stolz 1275 

 from southwestern Tanganyika; the other specimens have strongly glandular 

 leaves. Aim and Fries (he.) discuss the variation in the glands of this species. 



Blaeria patula (Engl.) Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 43: 364. 1909; Aim & Fries, Acta Horti 

 Berg. 8: 260. 1925. 



Blaeria spicata Hochst. ex A. Rich. var. patula Engl. Hochgebirgsfl. Trop. Afr. (Abh. 

 Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berl. 1891:) 325. 1892. 



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

 abundant, in young montane-forest regrowths, shrub 20-60 cm. high, brownish, 



