NOVITATES AERICANAE 
143 
Stems caespitose, clothed at the base with chartaceous, brown scales, 
erect, straight or slightly curved, sparingly branched or less often 
simple, slender, smooth, pale green, 5 — 15 cm. high, -5 — 75 mm. in 
diam. ; leaf-sheaths tightly convolute, oblong, obtuse, with a subulate 
or often foliaceous mucro, coriaceous, membranous along the upper 
margins, striate below the apex, 5 — 10 mm. long; male inflorescence 
not seen; female inflorescence linear-spiciform, with 1 — 5 spikelets, 
10 — 15 mm. long; spathes tightly clasping the spikelets, oblong, obtuse, 
with a comparatively stout mucro, coriaceous, membranous along the 
upper margins, 3-5 — 4 mm. long; spikelets sessile, linear, 1-flowered, 
4-5 — 5-5 mm. long; bracts 2, closely convolute, oblong-lanceolate, acute, 
cartilaginous in the lower half, membranous in the upper, about 4 mm. 
long; perianth sessile, linear, terete, 3 — 4 mm. long; segments closely 
convolute, lanceolate, acuminate, dorsally rounded, membranous, 
glabrous; the inner distinctly shorter than the outer; ovary oblong, 
2- celled; styles 2, united nearly half their length, corkscrew- twisted in 
their upper part. 
Cape Province: South-Western Region; Cape Div.; marsh on 
plateau north-west of Paul’s Berg, Pillans, 4145, ?! 
Allied to R. tenuissimus, Kunth, but differs in having the stems less 
bent, the constantly 1-flowered spikelets and the complete perianth. 
Dovea Marlothii, Pillans, D. aggregatae valde aflinis, sed inflorescentia pani- 
culato-cymosa, spathis brevioribus, spiculis majoribus distinguitur. 
Stems caespitose, erect, simple, rigid, finely wrinkled, 0 7 dm. 
high, 2 — 2-75 mm. in diam. at the middle; leaf-sheaths soon falling, 
oblong, acute, mucronate, coriaceous, striate, chestnut-brown, 2-5 
3- 5 cm. long; male inflorescence paniculate-cymose, oblong, densely 
many-flowered, 3 — 4 cm. long; spathes subpersistent, oblong, acute, 
mucronate, coriaceous, smooth, chestnut-brown, about 1 cm. long, 
spathellae inconspicuous, ovate; spikelets ovate, compressed, 2 o- 
flowered, 4 — 6 mm. long; barren bracts 3 — 4, ovate, smaller than the 
fertile; fertile bracts closely convolute, broadly ovate, acute, carti- 
laginous, minutely pitted on the upper part, 3 mm. long, peiianth 
sessile, oblong, rounded on the dorsal side and flattened on the ventral 
side, 4 — 4-5 mm. long; outer segments ovate, subacute, cartilaginous; 
the lateral slightly carinate; inner segments oblong, obtuse, coriaceous, 
twice as long as the outer; female inflorescence resembling that in the 
male plant, but broader; spathes as in the male ; spathellae ovate, acute, 
about 3 mm. long; spikelets approximate, shortly pedicellate, ovate, 
2 — 3 : flowered, 6—7 mm. long; barren bracts about 3, smaller than the 
fertile; fertile bracts broadly ovate, obtuse, bluntly mucronulate, 
coriaceous, 3 — 3-5 mm. long; perianth ovate, rounded on the i 
