Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 34 (1896).djvu/425

 DR. DONALDSON SMITH'S ACANTHACEiE. 895 glabro; capsula perigonium excedente, glabra, circuitu oblonga; bracteis membranaceis squamaBformibus obtusis, minutis, pedicellis post anthesin paulo elongatis filiformibus glaberrimis, erectis. Habitat in regione austro-orientali: in cacumine montium prope Queenstown, alt. 4500 ped., Jan. 1896, E. E. Galpin, No. 1944. In its leaves our plant resembles somewhat E. lancecefoUum Jacq., but, besides the long slender petiole and the very thin texture of the leaf itself, it is well distinguished by the very lax-flowered inflorescence, the bracts, and the larger flowers on very slender pedicels. The thin texture of the leaf is very remarkable in the genus, and has to my knowledge never been observed before in any other species. E. Bellendeni differs from E. dissitiflorum by the diff'erent leaf and a very different inflorescence. The flowers are white, with a greenish centre-line on the back of the three outer segments. DR. DONALDSON SMITH'S AOANTHACE^. By a. B. Eendle, M.A., F.L.S. The following is an account of the Acanthace^e recently col- lected by Dr. Donaldson Smith in his expedition to Somaliland and Lakes Stefanie and Rudolf. The plants mentioned are all in the Department of Botany at the British Museum : — Blepharis hoerhaavifolia Nees. Sheik-husin, Sept. 21st, 1894. Acanthodium spicatwn Delile. Milmil, July 30th, 1894. Barleria (§ Euharleria) submollis Lindau. Between Jub River and Lake Stefanie, April 23rd, 1895. Barleria (§ Euharleria) Hochstetteri Nees. Okoti, Sept. 8th, 1894. Barleria (§ Prionitis) setigera, sp. nov. Frutex ramis tereti- bus ascendentibus puberulis ; foliis vix petiolatis oblanceolatis, basi cuneatis, interdum oblongis basi angustatis, apice mucronatis, margine et venis praecipue dorsalibus, albe-setuliferis, aculeis axil- laribus quadripartitis ; spicis densis ovatis, bracteis inferioribus foliaceis, superioribus angustatis lineari-lanceolatis dorso et mar- gine setuliferis, bracteolis lineari-acuminatis vel ad aculeas reductis ; floribus sessilibus ; sepalis basi connatis aristatis margine et arista setuliferis, binis exterioribus ovatis, interioribus subulatis ; corollae tubo cylindrico sub ore vix ampliato, lobis subaBqualibus ovatis ob- tusis ; staminum filamentis planis e basi lata angustatis ; stami- nodiis 2 minutis, antheras cassas gerentibus. Hab. Darar, Sept. 15th, 1894. A low thorny bush, 35 cm. high ; the branches, the longest of which reaches 32 cm., are 2-5 mm. in diameter in the lowermost internodes, 2 mm. and less in the upper. The leaves have fallen except in the upper parts of the branches ; they are 3-5-4 cm. long, l'0-l-3 broad. The shoot in the leaf-axil branches im- mediately above its base into two decussating pairs of sharp needle-like spines about 1-5 cm. long. The dense spiny spike is 2 D 2