Notes

Melhania forbesii has two main centres of distribution, one in the southern part of Mozambique and the other in the Cuanza and Luanda provinces of Angola. In between these areas the species is much rarer but occasional specimens are recorded, principally from the Zambezi valley. Melhania acuminata, on the other hand, is mainly concentrated on the escarpment country and the plateaux to the south of the Zambezi in S. Rhodesia and Mozambique as well as in the Transvaal and Bechuanaland. The former species is characterised by a short style of 1–3 mm. in length and the latter by a long style of from 0·7–1·1 cm. in length. Along the Zambezi valley particularly, but also as far south as the Transvaal, specimens occur, however, which look superficially like one or other of these species but have styles of about 5 mm. in length. Although intermediate in style-length these specimens are not as a rule intermediate in other characters and the difference in styles in the two species is so extreme that it is considered most unlikely that we are dealing with a single variable species here but rather two distinct species hybridising freely where the ranges of distribution overlap. One group of hybrids superficially resembles M. forbesii as above. (? back-crosses with M. forbesii). Others superficially resemble M. acuminata (see below). It is very desirable that breeding experiments and cytological investigations should be carried out to test the validity of these suggestions. Chase 3703 (BM; K; SRGH) from Dora Ranch, Umtali, presents useful evidence for the above hypothesis since the British Museum sheet has a mixture of M. acuminata var. agnosta and M. forbesii × M. acuminata (? var. agnosta) i.e. the hybrid and one parent were collected in the same spot in one gathering. The remaining sheets bearing this number consist only of M. acuminata var. agnosta.This putative hybrid (? the result of back-crosses with M. acuminata) also occurs in the Transvaal (Soutpansberg, Codd 4137 (K; PRE), etc.).

Notes

Melhania forbesii has two main centres of distribution, one in the southern part of Mozambique and the other in the Cuanza and Luanda provinces of Angola. In between these areas the species is much rarer but occasional specimens are recorded, principally from the Zambezi valley. Melhania acuminata, on the other hand, is mainly concentrated on the escarpment country and the plateaux to the south of the Zambezi in S. Rhodesia and Mozambique as well as in the Transvaal and Bechuanaland. The former species is characterised by a short style of 1–3 mm. in length and the latter by a long style of from 0·7–1·1 cm. in length. Along the Zambezi valley particularly, but also as far south as the Transvaal, specimens occur, however, which look superficially like one or other of these species but have styles of about 5 mm. in length. Although intermediate in style-length these specimens are not as a rule intermediate in other characters and the difference in styles in the two species is so extreme that it is considered most unlikely that we are dealing with a single variable species here but rather two distinct species hybridising freely where the ranges of distribution overlap. One group of hybrids superficially resembles M. forbesii as above. (? back-crosses with M. forbesii). Others superficially resemble M. acuminata (see below). It is very desirable that breeding experiments and cytological investigations should be carried out to test the validity of these suggestions. Chase 3703 (BM; K; SRGH) from Dora Ranch, Umtali, presents useful evidence for the above hypothesis since the British Museum sheet has a mixture of M. acuminata var. agnosta and M. forbesii × M. acuminata (? var. agnosta) i.e. the hybrid and one parent were collected in the same spot in one gathering. The remaining sheets bearing this number consist only of M. acuminata var. agnosta.This putative hybrid (? the result of back-crosses with M. acuminata) also occurs in the Transvaal (Soutpansberg, Codd 4137 (K; PRE), etc.).

Notes

Melhania forbesii has two main centres of distribution, one in the southern part of Mozambique and the other in the Cuanza and Luanda provinces of Angola. In between these areas the species is much rarer but occasional specimens are recorded, principally from the Zambezi valley. Melhania acuminata, on the other hand, is mainly concentrated on the escarpment country and the plateaux to the south of the Zambezi in S. Rhodesia and Mozambique as well as in the Transvaal and Bechuanaland. The former species is characterised by a short style of 1–3 mm. in length and the latter by a long style of from 0·7–1·1 cm. in length. Along the Zambezi valley particularly, but also as far south as the Transvaal, specimens occur, however, which look superficially like one or other of these species but have styles of about 5 mm. in length. Although intermediate in style-length these specimens are not as a rule intermediate in other characters and the difference in styles in the two species is so extreme that it is considered most unlikely that we are dealing with a single variable species here but rather two distinct species hybridising freely where the ranges of distribution overlap. One group of hybrids superficially resembles M. forbesii as above. (? back-crosses with M. forbesii). Others superficially resemble M. acuminata (see below). It is very desirable that breeding experiments and cytological investigations should be carried out to test the validity of these suggestions. Chase 3703 (BM; K; SRGH) from Dora Ranch, Umtali, presents useful evidence for the above hypothesis since the British Museum sheet has a mixture of M. acuminata var. agnosta and M. forbesii × M. acuminata (? var. agnosta) i.e. the hybrid and one parent were collected in the same spot in one gathering. The remaining sheets bearing this number consist only of M. acuminata var. agnosta.This putative hybrid (? the result of back-crosses with M. acuminata) also occurs in the Transvaal (Soutpansberg, Codd 4137 (K; PRE), etc.).