Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 34 (1896).djvu/54

 98 NEW AFBICAN CONVOLVULACE^. IpomcBa Britteniana, sp. n. Volubilis, caule glabro tenui, foliis laxis exacte cordatis acuminatis, venis prominulis sparse pilosis, margiiie scabridula et ciliolata : pedunculo brevi petiolo subgequante, floribus ad 7 subumbellatis, breviter pedicellatis, bracteis minutis ovatis ; sepalis crassiusculis glabris subaequalibus, ovatis obtusiusculis, exterioribus verruculosis ; corolla tubuliforme superne ampliata, areis mesopetalinis 5-lineatis, valde distinctis ; staminibus inaequalibus in basi lata et supra pilosis, polline rotundo, echinulato; stigmate capitato; capsula brunnea tenui glabra bre- viter apiculata, seminibus 4 glabris cuneiformibus. Hab. Ngatana, Tana Eiver plains, Gregory, 1893. Hb. Mus. Brit. A slender climber, with leaves 1-1^ in. long and 10-12 lines broad, often turned back at their insertion on the petiole (about ^ in. long). The strong scabridulous peduncle is 5 lines long, the smooth pedicels 3-5 lines. The calyx is nearly i in., the corolla less than 1 in. long, the tube 1^ lines m diameter. The live stamens vary from 2^ to 3^ lines in length. The roundish light brown cap- sule is about 2 lines in diameter ;. the blunt and flattened wedge- shaped brown seeds are quite smooth. Near /. obscura Ch., but distinguished by its quite smooth seeds, the greater number of flowers in the umbel, and more acuminate minutely ciliolate leaves. Is also closely allied to J. ophthalmantha Hallier, but again separated by its smaller differently- shaped gla- brous light brown seeds. Ipomoea Greenstockii, sp. n. Suffrutex humilis hirsutula, ramis lignosis brevibus tenuibus teretibus ; foliis densis linearibus vel lineari-oblongis apiculatis, in costa mediana phcatis, breviter petiolatis ; floribus paucis magnis subsessilibus, foliis circumdatis ; bracteis linearibus brevibus; sepalis 2 exterioribus majoribus ovato- lanceolatis, interioribus angustioribus acuminatis, et qua obtectis glabris ; corolla glabra infundibuliforme purpurea, areis meso- petalinis angustis lineis 2 conspicuis valde delimitatis ; staminibus insequalibus, polline sphaerico echinulato ; stigmate capitato. Hab. Pilgrim's Best, Transvaal, liev. W. Greenstock, 1879. Herb. Mus. Brit. A plant in Herb. Kew (Wood, Natal, No. 4490) is, I believe, the same. A small bushy plant 3-6 in. high, the thin wiry branches bearing numerous leaves, which reach 1| in. in length, with a breadth of 1^-3^ lines, and are densely somewhat stiffly hairy, except on the upper surface, which is protected by the upward folding of the leaf along the midrib. The two or three large flowers are in the centre of the plant ; the short pedicel, bracts, and calyx, where exposed, bear hairs similar to those by which the leaves and branches are invested. The sepals aro 7 lines long, the outermost the broadest (3 lines) and subacute, the others successively narrower, and in- creasuigly acuminate. The corolla is 1^ in. long by IJ diameter at the mouth. The Ave stamens are all unequal, 5^-8 lines in length, two being conspicuously longer than the rest ; the style, with its papitate stigma, is intermediate in length between the shorter and longer stamens. lb near the South African I. argyreoides Choisy, but distinguished