Volume 1

Catalogue of the African plants collected by Dr. Friedrich Welwitsch in 1853-61.

  • British Museum (Natural History) Department of Botany
Date:
1896-1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Catalogue of the African plants collected by Dr. Friedrich Welwitsch in 1853-61. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Kalanchoe] upper leaves lanceolate from an amplexicaul base, coarsely dentate from the middle to the apex ; calyx deeply 4-cleft, densely glandular, with erect long-acuminate lobes; corolla pale-yellow; corolla-tube acutely quadrangular; lobes of the limb elliptic-ovate, cucullate- apiculate at the apex ; stamens 8 of which 4 are inserted lower than the others, included ; hypogynous scales 4, well developed, linear, obtuse ; ovaries 4, erect, free, unilocular. In elevated stony parts of Morro de Lopollo (Monino) ; flower-bud 6 April, fl. April and May 1860. No. 2485. 9. K. scapigera Welw. ex Britten, l.c., p. 397. Mossamedes.—A suffruticose, fleshy, quite glabrous herb ; root thick, oblique, 1-3-headed ; stem cylindrical, an inch high, transversely rugose with the scars of fallen leaves; leaves obovate obtuse sub- petiolate or occasionally subsessile and suborbicular, very thick, sub- rosulate at the apex of the stem, reddish or of a yellow-copper colour ; peduncles scapiform, arising from the rosette of leaves, solitary or two together, 5 to 9 in. long, straight, cylindrical, occasionally furnished with 2 opposite deciduous bracts, bearing at the apex 1 to 3 little cymes ; pedicels TV to £ in. long, rigid, furnished with thick lanceolate almost triquetrous bracteoles; flowers deep-yellow, rather fleshy, brittle ; calyx-segments very short, oval-deltoid, rather obtuse, gibbous on the back, several times shorter than the quadrangular corolla-tube ; stamens 8 ; hypogynous glands 4, filiform-linear; ovaries gradually acuminate, at length dehiscing on the inner side, many-ovuled. On the summit of the mountains of Serra de Montes Negros, seen in only one stony spot; a few specimens in fr. and one in fl. 10 August 1859. No. 2483. 5. COTYLEDON Tournef., L.; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. p. 659. 1. C. orbiculata L. Sp. PI. edit. 1, p. 429 (1753); Britten in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. ii. p. 398. Mossamedes.—A beautiful, pruinose-glaucous, fleshy, brittle shrub, 1 to 2 ft. high ; stem straight or ascending, woody, £ to § in. thick, transversely rugose with the scars of fallen leaves ; branches dichoto- mous, cmspitose, spreading, undulating, pale-brown, shortened, densely leafy ; leaves in 4 rows decussate, obovate-spathulate, fleshy, very thick, subsessile, glaucous, spread all over with easily separable quite white meal, turning red at the obtuse apex ; flowers red, terminal, cymose ; peduncle cylindrical, 4 to 7 in. long, scape-like, with opposite bracts at the base and above the middle, as well as the pedicels and calyx white- mealy. Abundant, on the sides of lofty almost vertical rocks composed of sandy mica-schist, along the banks of the river Maiombo, about 15 miles from the coast, chiefly between P4o and Bisapa, rather rare between P&o and Pedra Rei; fl. and young fr. 7 June 1860. Altitude 100 to 300 ft. No. 2489. XLVIII. DROSERACEiE. The Droseracem of Angola are essentially highland plants. Even in the hilly region, where a moist atmosphere and spongy ground are certainly not rare, Welwitsch did not find a single species, and it was only about 15° S. lat. at an elevation of 5000 to 6000 ft. that several species were met with. Droserci indica L. descends lowest, namely to 3200 ft., but the geographical distri-