1954] 



PLANTS COLLECTED IN NYASALAND 



2" 



I find myself unable to retain, as species distinct from H. aristata, the three 

 species which follow it in Clarke's account of the genus (Fl. Trop. Afr. 5: 245- 

 246. 1899), and their names are here placed in synonymy. The only character 

 which Clarke was able to use to distinguish H. antennifera and H. insularis from 

 H. aristata is that of the size of the leaf. This is a character difficult to use, for 

 comparison must be made between leaves from corresponding positions on the 

 shoot, and from plants grown under similar climatic and edaphic conditions. Many 

 flowering specimens have by that time lost their primary leaves. Whilst consider- 

 able variation in leaf-size undoubtedly does occur, it is not as marked as one 

 might think from a casual glance through the material; it is certainly, in my opin- 

 ion, not of sufficient importance to justify specific separation. The inflorescence 

 character on which Clarke distinguishes H. staudtii is not fundamental, being only 

 one of degree, and I agree with Hutchinson and Dalziel (Fl. W. Trop. Afr. 2: 268. 

 1931) in considering this species conspecific with H. insularis. 



Hypoestes triflora (Forsk.) Roem. & Schult. Syst. Veg. 1: 141. 1817. 

 Jusiicia triflora Forsk. Fl. Aegypt.-Arab. 4. 1775. 



Hypoestes phaylopsoides S. Moore, Trans. Linn. Soc. II. Bot. 4: 34. May 1894. 

 Hypoestes kilimandsckarica Lindau, Bot. Jahrb. 19 (Beibl. 47): 47. Aug. 1894. 



Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain; Luchenya Plateau, common in moist forest 

 openings, scrambling to height of 1 m. or more, flowers white streaked with pur- 

 ple, 1820 m., July 1, 1946, 16585; ibid., open bank of a stream in forest, herb 

 30-50 cm. high, ascending, flowers white streaked with purple, 1750 m., July 5, 

 1946, 16663. Abyssinia to Natal and Angola, Cameroons and Fernando Po, Arabia, 

 India, and China. 



Again I am forced to take a broad view of a species of Hypoestes. H. triflora 

 was originally described from Arabia. Its range is now known to extend south to 

 Natal, west to the Cameroon Mt. and east to China. It is a species of forests, 

 showing great variability as do the other two widely spread species here enumer- 

 ated. Mr. Brass' two gatherings show different forms of the species. The size, 

 shape and arrangement of the bracts and bracteoles are characters which vary 

 considerably without any noticeable correlation, and I find many intermediates 

 between typical H. triflora and the extreme form recognized by C. B. Clarke as a 

 distinct species, H. phaylopsoides S. Moore, which was based on a specimen 

 collected on Mt. Mlanje by Mr. Alexander ^Tiyte in 1891. 



Dicliptera mossambicensis Klotzsch in Peters, Reise Mossamb. Bot. 220. 1801. 



Chikwawa District: Lower Mwanza River, plentiful in dry brushy forest, very 

 pubescent herb, flowers pink, 180 m., Oct. 4, 1946, 17945. Southern Tanganyika 

 Territory, Portuguese East Africa, and new to Nyasaland. 



Dicliptera pumila (Lindau) Dandy, comb. nov. [J.E.D.] 

 Duvemoia pumila Lindau, Bot. Jahrb. 20 : 44. 1894. 



Peristrophe usta C. B. Clarke in Thiselton-Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. 5: 244. 1900. 

 Peristropbe pumila (Lindau) Lindau in R. E. Fr. Wiss. Ergebn. Schwed. Rhod.-Kongo- 

 Exp. 1911-12 1: 307. 1916. 



Kota-kota District: Chintembwe, common on rocky grasslands, perennial herb 

 4-15 cm. high, flowers lavender mottled with purple, 1400 m., Sept. 9, 1946, 

 17582. Widely spread from southern Anglo-Egyptian Sudan to S. Rhodesia. 



This species shows great variation, and is as yet imperfectly known. It flow- 

 ers early in the season, often before the rains, and at this time it is more or less 

 leafless. Mature leaves and ripe fruits were unknown to Lindau, and are still un- 

 represented in the Kew Herbarium. Ripe fruit has, however, been collected in the 

 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan by Hope Simpson, and this, having elastically rising pla- 



