1954] 



PLANTS COLLECTED IN NY AS ALAND 



5 



cymosa Willd. was published merely as a synonym, though a doubtful one, and 

 that Roemer and Schultes did not intend to accept E. cymosa Willd. as a species, 

 probably copying the diagnosis from the Willdenowian herbarium. E. cymosa 

 Thonn. thus may be maintained. 



E. cymosa Thonn. is a member of a plexus extending over much of tropical 

 Africa, whose members were treated as species in the Flora of tropical Africa 

 by Baker and Wright in their rather mechanical way. I can see no real specific 

 differences between them, and believe that the following rearrangement will be 

 more reasonable. Between the five varieties recognised there is nothing beyond 

 the presence or absence of long hairs on the panicle, which is certainly of minor 

 taxonomic importance here, and minor differences in size of calyx and flowers, 

 which, while certainly correlated with geography, in my opinion represent only 

 races of a single widespread and rather variable species. 



Ehretia cymosa Thonn. var. cymosa. 

 Ehretia cymmsa Thonn. sensu stricto. 



Rami inflorescentiarum brevissime pubescentes vel puberuli. Flores saepius 

 omnes vel fere omnes distincte pedicellati. Calyx 1-1.5 mm. longus. Lobi corol- 

 lae 1.5-2.5 mm. longi. 



Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Gold Coast, Togo, Nigeria, British Cameroons, 

 Gaboon, Belgian Congo, and Uganda. The most important features of this variety 

 are the short indumentum on the inflorescence coupled with the short calyx. 



Ehretia cymosa Thonn. var. zenkeri (Gurke ex Bak. & Wright) Brenan, comb. nov. 



Ehretia zenkeri Gurke ex Bak. & Wright in Thiselton-Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. 4 2 : 25. 1905. 



Rami inflorescentiarum pilis patentibus longioribus dense vestiti. Flores ut 

 in var/ cymosa. 



Gold Coast, Nigeria, French Cameroons. Closely similar to var. cymosa ex- 

 cept for the long indumentum on the inflorescence. 



Ehretia cymosa Thonn. var. divaricata (Bak.) Brenan, comb. nov. 

 Ehretia divaricata Bak. Kew Bull. 1894: 28. 1894. 



Rami inflorescentiarum brevissime pubescentes vel puberuli. Flores saepius 

 infimis exceptis sessiles vel subsessiles. Calyx 2-2.5 mm. longus. Corolla 

 circiter 4.5-5.5 mm. longa; tubus 2 mm. longus; lobi 2.5-3.5 mm. longi. 



Belgian Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika Territory, Nyasaland, and S. 

 Rhodesia. In its indumentum var. divaricata resembles var. cymosa, but it differs 

 in the larger calyx and corolla. 



Ehretia cymosa Thonn. var. abyssinica (R. Br. ex Fres.) Brenan, comb. nov. 



Ehretia abyssinica R. Br. in Salt, Abyss. Append, lxiv. 1814, nomen nudum; ex Fres. 

 Flora 21: 608. 1838; Bak. & Wright in Thiselton-Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. 4 2 : 23. 1905. 



Rami inflorescentiarum et calyx ut in var. divaricata vel rami pilis longioribus 

 sparsis vestiti. Corolla 6-7 mm. longa; tubus 3 mm. longus; lobi 3-4 mm. longi. 



Abyssinia and Eritrea, This variety is very closely similar to var. divaricata 

 except for its larger corolla, 



Ehretia cymosa Thonn, var, silvatica (Gurke) Brenan, comb, nov, 



Ehretia silvatica Gurke, Bot. Jahrb. 19(Beibl. 47): 46. 1895; Bak. & Wright in 

 Thiselton-Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. 4 2 : 23. 1905. 



Rami inflorescentiarum pilis patentibus longis vel longiusculis ± dense 

 vestiti. Calyx 2-3 mm. longus. Lobi corollae 2-3 mm. longi. 



Abyssinia, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanganyika Territory. Var. silvatica is 

 closely similar in calyx and corolla to var. divaricata, differing in the long in- 

 dumentum of the inflorescence. 



