38 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



4 



[Vol. 9, No. 1 



Vitex doniana Sweet, Hort. Brit. 323. 1827. 



Vitex umbrosa G. Don ex Sabine, Trans. Hort. Soc. 5: 455. 1824; non V. umbrosa Sw. 



Prodr. Veg. Ind. Occ. 93. 1788. 

 Vitex cuneata Thonn. in Schumach. & Thonn. Beskr. Guin. PI. 289. 1827; Bak. in 



Thiselton-Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. 5: 328. 1900; Pieper, Bot. Jahrb. 62 (Beibl. 141 



["142"]): 71. 1928. 



Vitex cienkowskii Kotschy & Peyr. PI. Tinn. 27. pi. 12, 1867; Bak. in Thiselton-Dyer, 

 Fl. Trop. Afr. 5: 328. 1900. 



Kota-kota District: Nchisi, in gullies in Brachystegia woodland, tree 10 m. 

 high and 30 cm. in diameter, leaves very dark green above, greyish beneath, fruit 

 purple-black when ripe, edible, native name (Chinyanja) npindimbi, 1350 m., Aug. 

 1, 1946, 17074, Widespread in tropical Africa. 



LABIATAE 



Ocimum americanum L. Cent. I PI. 15. 1755; Amoen. Acad. 4: 276. 1759. 



Ocimum canum Sims, Bot. Mag. pi. 2452, 1824; Bak. in Thiselton-Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. 

 5: 337. 1900. 



Blantyre District: Blantyre, in Brachystegia woodlands, herb 20-40 cm. high, 

 strongly aromatic, smelling rather like eucalyptus oil, flowers white, 1100 m., 

 June 17, 1946, 16343, Widespread in tropical Africa and Asia, rare in Brazil. 



Ocimum suave Willd. Enum. PI. Hort. Berol. 629. 1809; Bak. in Thiselton-Dyer, 

 Fl. Trop. Afr. 5: 338. 1900. 

 Ocimum trichodon Bak. ex Gurke in Engl. Pflanzenw. Ost-Afr. C: 350. 1895; Bak. in 

 Thiselton-Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. 5: 338. 1900. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, weedy growths on moist open roadsides, 

 shrub 1-1.5 m. high, aromatic, flowers white, bracts green, 1450 m., June 5, 1946, 

 16271, Kota-kota District: Nchisi Mountain, plentiful in shrubberies bordering 

 rain- forest, shrub 1.5-2 m. high, fragrant, flowers white, 1650 m., July 31, 1946, 

 17062, Widespread on the eastern side of tropical Africa. 



Very doubtfully distinct from the Asiatic 0. gratissimum L. A manuscript note 

 by Mr. B. Verdcourt in Herb. Kew. sinks O. trichodon under 0. suave; I agree; 

 O. trichodon seems to be simply a hairy form of the variable 0. suave, with dense 

 spikes and broad bracts. This form is not confined to Nyasaland, as I have seen 

 an exactly similar specimen in Herb. Kew. from Laboni in the Anglo-Egyptian 

 Sudan (/. G. Myers 9711), 



Geniosporum rotundifolium Briq. Bot. Jahrb. 19: 163. 1894; Bak. in Thiselton- 

 -Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. 5: 351. 1900. 



North Nyasa District: Nyika Plateau; Nchena-chena Spur, common in shrubby 

 grasslands, herb about 1 m. high, flowers pale purple, bracts darker purple, 1900 

 m., Aug. 20, 1946, 17355, Belgian Congo, southwestern Tanganyika Territory, 

 Angola, and now recorded for the first time from Nyasaland. 



I doubt if this is more than a local variant of G. angolense Briq. 



Geniosporum angolense Briq. Bot. Jahrb. 19: 164. 1894; Bak. in Thiselton-Dyer, 

 Fl. Trop. Afr. 5: 351. 1900. 

 Kota-kota District: Nchisi Mountain, plentiful in thin swampy forest of gullies; 

 shrub 60-100 cm. high, leaves rugose, flowers purple, bracts white, the lower 

 ones edged with green, 1400 m., July 25, 1946, 16931, Angola; new to Nyasaland. 



Geniosporum paludosum Bak. in Thiselton-Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. 5: 352. 1900; 

 Robyns, Fl. Spermat. Pare Nat. Albert 2: 194. pi. 18, 1947. 

 Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, occasional on moist sunny banks of streams, 

 herb 70-90 cm. high, slightly aromatic, leaves rugose, flowers purple, bracts 



