1954] 



PLANTS COLLECTED IN NYASALAND 



91 



in flower there is even some doubt whether it is an Anthericum and not a 

 Ch lor ophy turn, 



Chlorophytum glabriflorum C. H. Wright, Kew Bull. 1906: 170. 1906. 



Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain; Liichenya Plateau, several plants in grass- 

 land sheltered by forest, perennial herb 1.5 to over 2 m. high, leaves channelled, 

 lax, more or less fleshy, up to 100 cm. long and 5 cm. wide, flowers white, pan- 

 icle up to 1.4 m. long, lowermost bracts over 80 cm. long, 1880 m., July 8, 1946, 

 16727. Endemic to Mlanje; the last collection made was the type (Purves 17) 

 in 1901. 



Chlorophytum nidulans (Bak.) Brenan, comb. nov. 



Anthericum nidulans Bak. Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. 15: 314. 1876; in Thiselton-Dyer, Fl. 



Trop. Afr. 7: 492. 1898. 

 Chlorophytum asphodeloides C. H. Wright, Kew Bull. 1906: 170. 1906. 



Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain; Luchenya Plateau, scattered on seepage- 

 wet rocks in open grassland, perennial herb 30-50 cm. high, roots orange, flowers 

 white, I860 m.* June 26, 1946, 16436. Endemic to Nyasaland. 



I cannot distinguish Anthericum nidulans and Chlorophytum asphodeloides, 

 and the plant is a Chlorophytum rather than an Anthericum. 



Chlorophytum sp. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, common on an exposed rocky summit, herb 

 40 cm. high, flower white, only one seen, 1820 m., May 31, 1946, 16128*. 



This, except for being rather tall, exactly equals a specimen at Kew from 

 Mlanje Mountain collected by G. Adamson, marked "mixed with 366." It may well 

 be a new species, but more material is needed. 



The leaves are linear, up to 30 cm. long and 4 mm. wide, usually tapering at 

 base into a petiole, gradually attenuate towards the apex, glabrous except for 

 close-set short hairs along the margins; the panicle is up to 20 cm. long, with 

 3-5 suberect or ascending branches, glabrous; pedicels 4-8 mm. long, articulated 

 at or somewhat below the middle; flowers about 8 mm. long; fruits obovate- 

 obcordate, 5-7 mm. long, 4-5 mm. wide. 



Albuca kirkii (Bak.) Brenan, comb. nov. 



Ornithogalum kirkii Bak. Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. 13: 279. 1873. 



Albuca myogaloides Welw. ex Bak. Trans. Linn. Soc. II. Bot. 1: 250. 1878; in Thiselton- 



Dyei, Fl. Trop. Afr. 7: 529. 1898. 

 Albuca caudata sensu Bak. in Thiselton-Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. 7: 529. 1898; non A. 



caudata Jacq. Ic. PI. Rar. 2: 20. pi 442. 1786-1793. 



Mlanje District: Likubula Gorge, occasional on bare ground in Brachystegia 

 woodlands, 15-70 cm. high, sepals and petals green with white margins, 1200 m., 

 June 21, 1946, Vernay 16394. Portuguese East Africa, Nyasaland, S. Rhodesia, 

 and Angola. 



I do not consider this plant to be conspecific with the South African A. caudata 

 Jacq., which is more robust, with much larger perianths and longer pedicels. 



Baker, in Thiselton-Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. 7: 528 (1898), separated in his key 

 A. myogaloides from A. caudata by the length of the perianth, about l A inch in the 

 former, %-l inch in the latter. This works for the South African A. caudata, but 

 for none of the tropical specimens that Baker cites, which are indistinguishable 

 from A. myogaloides in perianth-size. 



Specimens from Portuguese East Africa, including the type of A. kirkii, tend 

 to have comparatively small flowers whose perianth-segments are 10-12 mm. long 

 and 2.5-3 mm. wide; the specimens from Nyasaland and Angola, including the 

 type of A. myogaloides, have rather larger flowers whose perianth-segments are 



