1954] 



PLANTS COLLECTED IN NYASALAND 



111 



Chloridion cameronii Stapf in Hook. Ic. PI. 27: pi 2640. 1900; in Prain, Fl. Trop. 

 Afr. 9: 480. 1919. 



Stereochlaena jeffreysii Hack. Proc. Rhod. Sci. Assoc. 7: 2, 66. 1908. 

 Stereochlaena cameronii (Stapf) Pilger in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenf. ed. 2. 14e: 

 45. 1940. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, in shallow soil on seepage-wet rocks, com- 

 mon, 1800 m., May 31, 1946, Brass 16140. Kota-kota District: Nchisi Mountain, 

 plentiful on seepage-wet soil in Brachystegia woodland, 1400 m., August 1, 1946, 

 Brass 17097; ibid., occasional on dry slopes in Brachystegia woodland, 1400 m., 

 August 5, 1946, Brass 17137. Also in Northern and Southern Rhodesia, and 

 Bechu an aland. 



Because Chloridion Stapf (1900) is a variant spelling of Chloridium Link (Obs. 

 Mycol. 1: 11, 1809), Weatherby (Kew Bull. 1935, 406) considers that the former 

 should be renamed. Accordingly Pilger in his recent account of the genera of the 

 P aniceae, has used Stereochlaena Hack, in place of Chloridion Stapf. If, however, 

 one follows the recommendations in the International Rules, ed. 3, Art. 70, pp. 22 

 -23 (1935), surely there is no more likelihood of confusing Chloridion Stapf with 

 Chloridium Link, than there is in the cases of Desmostachys and Desmostachya, 

 P eltophorus and Peltophorum, which are given as examples of different generic 

 names. Moreover, in his review of changes made in the International Rules of Bo- 

 tanical Nomenclature by the Seventh International Botanical Congress at Stock- 

 holm in 1950, De Wit (Fl. Males. Bull. 7: 221. 1950) gives the following addition 

 to Article 70: lt When two or more generic names are so similar and the plants so 

 closely related that they may be confused, one name should be rejected." This 

 apparently sanctions the use of both Chloridium and Chloridion, since the groups 

 to which they belong, Fungi and Gramineae respectively, are so very different. 



Melinis ambigua Hack. Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 51: 462. 1901; Stapf & Hubbard in 

 Prain, FL Trop. Afr. 9' 921. 1930. 

 Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, common in Brachystegia woodlands, 1500 m., 

 June 2, 1946, 16149. Abyssinia, southwards to Southern Rhodesia. 



Melinis longicauda (Mez) Mez ex Stapf & Hubbard in Prain, Fl. Trop. Air. 9: 919. 

 1930. 



Panicum longicauda Mez, Bot. Jahrb. 34: 133. 1904. 



Rhynchelytrum longicaudum (Mez) Chiov. Nuovo Gior. Bot. Ital. II. 26: 78. 1919. 



Kota-kota District: Nchisi Mountain, tufted on flat rocks in Brachystegia wood- 

 land, 1400 m., August 1, 1946, 17092. Also in southern Tanganyika Territory, 

 Portuguese East Africa, and Southern Rhodesia. 



Melinis macrochaeta Stapf & Hubbard, Kew Bull. 1926: 443. 1926; in Prain, Fl. 

 Trop. Afr. 9: 927. 1930. 

 Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, common in crevices on exposed rocks, 1500 

 m., June 6, 1946, 16290. Northern Nigeria and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, south- 

 wards to Angola and Southern Rhodesia. 



Melinis maitlandii Stapf & Hubbard, Kew Bull. 1926: 445. 1926; in Prain, Fl. 

 Trop. Afr. 9: 930. 1930. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, occasional large clumps in open rocky situa- 

 tions, 1500 m., June 2, 1946, 16150. , 



A form with short-awned or awnless spikelets. A similar form has been col- 

 lected in Uganda, where the typical form also occurs. 



