1954] 



PLANTS COLLECTED IN NY AS ALAND 



3 



well-developed paired stylar swelling shown by, e.g. Brass 16462] but further 

 examination showed that other gatherings, e.g. Brass 17226 and Adamson 452 

 (in Herb. Kew.), had the swelling very small or almost absent, but were otherwise 

 quite inseparable. Gatherings both with and without the swelling have been made 

 on Mount Mlanje. I therefore believe that this character is more variable than 

 has been assumed in this species — a state of things similar to that in 5". leio- 

 styla Gilg. 



S. erecta A. W. Hill, Kew Bull. 1908: 328 (1908), was said to differ from S, 

 grandiflora by the well-developed stylar swellings, and by the narrower leaves. 

 The style difference now seems knocked out, but the slight leaf difference re- 

 mains, and the status of S. erecta must depend on further collecting in the 

 Transvaal. 



Chironia laxiflora Bak. Kew Bull. 1894: 25. 1894; Bak. & Br. in Thiselton-Dyer, 

 Fl. Trop. Afr. 4 1 : 556. 1903. 



North Nyasa District: Nchena-chena, frequent in Brachystegia woodlands, herb 

 30-150 cm. high, flowers rose-pink, conspicuous, 1340 m., Aug. 21, 1946, 17376, 

 Tanganyika Territory, Nyasaland, and N. Rhodesia. 



This specimen, together with some others from Nyasaland, has larger flowers 

 and anthers than the type and specimens from southwestern Tanganyika Territory. 

 There may here be a case for making two varieties, one with larger flowers, and 

 very likely including C. gratis sima S. Moore, Jour. Linn. Soc. Dot. 40: 148 (1911), 

 the other smaller-flowered and including the type of C. laxiflora. For the present 

 I think it best to follow the wide concept of Baker and Brown (I.e.), but I hope 

 that botanists in Nyasaland will observe the variation in flower-size of this very 

 attractive plant. 



Swertia johnsoni N. E. Br. in Thiselton-Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. 4 l : 522. 1903; T. C. 

 E. Fries, Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berl. 8: 509-511. 1923. 

 North Nyasa District: Nyika Plateau, locally common in open grasslands, per- 

 ennial herb 30-40 cm. high, stems dark purple, leaves more or less fleshy, flow- 

 ers purple, showy, glands on petals yellow, 2300 m., Aug. 13, 1946, 17194, South- 

 western Tanganyika Territory and Nyasaland. 



Swertia cf. curtioides Gilg. Bot. Jahrb. 30: 379. 1901; Bak. & Br. in Thiselton- 

 Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. 4 1 : 580. 1904. 



Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain; Luchenya Plateau, open grasslands, herb, 

 flowers white, I860 m., June 26, 1946, 16435*; ibid., on seepage slopes in grass- 

 land, not common, herb 10-15 cm. high, flowers white, 2000 m., June 27, 1946, 

 16487,* North Nyasa District: Nyika Plateau, locally abundant in grass in Pbi- 

 lippia woodland, perennial herb 10-30 cm. high, corolla white, glands greenish- 

 yellow, anthers black, 2300 m., Aug. 14, 1946, 17223, 



Brass 16435 and 16487 are dubious, as the plants are incomplete and abnor- 

 mally grown, but a plant closely resembling 17223 has been collected on Mlanje 

 Mountain: Adamson 344 in Herb. Kew. 



Brass 17223 is very like S. curtioides, previously only recorded from south- 

 western Tanganyika Territory, except that it is considerably more robust, owing, 

 I suspect, only to outside conditions; but we want to know more about this. 

 Another thing that must be borne in mind is that S. curtioides, together with 

 several other of these annual Swertias, is a shaky species, and I believe that 

 drastic reductions will be made in the future. 



Swertia sharpei N. E. Br. in Thiselton-Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. 4 1 : 581. 1904. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, locally plentiful on sunny seepage slopes, 

 herb 10-40 cm. high, corolla purplish-white with purple veins, 1450 m., June 5, 



