1954] 



PLANTS COLLECTED IN NY AS ALAND 



47 



ampliatus, extra inferne glaber superne appresse pubescens; labium superius 

 leviter concavo-convexum, oblongo-ellipticum, extra pubescens, intus glabrum, 

 circiter 5 mm. longum 3.2 mm. latum, apice leviter et obtuse bilobatum, sinu 0.4 

 mm. alto; labium inferius circiter 3.5 mm. longum, lobo medio obovato apice ro- 

 tundato 2.5 mm. longo 2.2 mm. lato, lobis lateralibus oblongo-obtusis 2 mm. longis 

 1.5 mm. latis, omnibus praeter imam basim glabris. Stamina 4; filamenta staminum 

 posticorum circiter 4.5 mm. longa, anticorum circiter 5.5 mm. longa, omnia glabra; 

 antherae reniformes, circiter 0.5 mm. longae, 0.7 mm. latae, rubro-purpureae. Stylus 

 11 mm. longus, deflexus, glaber, apice inaequaliter bifidus, lobis lanceolatis 

 acutis. Ovarium glabrum. Nuculae ignotae. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, 1370 m., Sept. 1895, A. Wbyte s. n. (Herb. 

 Kew.). Mlanje District: Mlanje; Tuchila Plateau, plant 1 m. high, flowers white, 

 1830 m., May 1901, /. M. Purves 13 (TYPUS in Herb. Kew.). Mlanje Mountain; 

 Luchenya Plateau, common locally in rocky grasslands, shrub 50-80 cm. high, 

 strongly pennyroyal-scented, stoloniferous, flowers cream-coloured, 2180 m., July 

 3, 1946, 16643. 



S. vernayana is one of a small but very natural group of species in tropical 

 Africa about whose systematic position there have been hitherto very conflict- 

 ing ideas. 



The first member of the group to be described was Nepeta robusta Hook. f. 

 This was a bad mistake for, in spite of a certain resemblance to Nepeta in facies, 

 the anticous stamens are obviously longer than the posticous, and this completely 

 contradicts the principal character of the tribe Nepeteae. Following Hooker, three 

 other binomials have been made in Nepeta for relatives of Nepeta robusta. 



In 1898 Baker described two species under Leucas, an equally unhappy shot, 

 for not only had his species 5 calyx-teeth, not 8-10 as in Leucas , but the not or 

 scarcely arcuate stamens remove them widely. 



One of Baker's species was transferred by S. Moore in 1911 to Calamintha, 

 and Dr. G. Taylor added a new species under the same genus in 1931. There is, 

 I think, no doubt that our plants belong to the tribe Saturejineae and that they are 

 closely related to Calamintha. Stamens and corolla both support this. 



If this is accepted there are further difficulties. Briquet, in Engl. & Prantl, 

 Nat. Pflanzenfam. 4 3A : 296 (1896), made Satureja L. an "omnibus" genus, in- 

 cluding under it Calamintha and Micromeria among others. There is no doubt that 

 if Briquet be followed our plants should be placed under Satureja. I consider that 

 it is preferable to accept Briquet's classification rather than that of Bentham in 

 DC. Prodr. 12. Calamintha and Micromeria are certainly most closely related, but 

 by Bentham's classification and by that of Baker in the Flora of tropical Africa 

 the not or scarcely bilabiate calyx with subequal teeth common to all the species 

 of the group that we are discussing surely indicates Micromeria and not Calamintha 

 as the right genus. Indeed it is surprising that no species of the group has so far 

 been described under Micromeria. 



I cannot find any close affinity among the hitherto described species of Mi- 

 cromeria. There is a certain resemblance in foliage, habit, and to a lesser extent 

 inflorescence among that group of European and Mediterranean species which 

 includes M. pulegium (Roch.) Benth., M. thymifolia (Scop.) Fritsch, and M. 

 bulgarica (Vel.) Hayek; and a stronger resemblance in calyx and inflorescence to 

 M. staminea Boiss. & Hohen., which although later transferred by Boissier to 

 Calamintha should surely have been left in Micromeria where it was originally 

 described, and where Bentham retained it. But when all this is said and done the 

 African plants remain a very distinct group. 



