Revision of the genus Myrsiphyllum Willd.

The genus  Myrsiphyllum Willd. (Liliaceae—Asparageae) is revised. Twelve species are recognized, one of which is new. namely,  M. alopecurum Oberm. Eight new combinations are made. A key is provided for distinguishing  Myrsiphyllum from  Protasparagus Oberm.

For the present it was decided to leave these two African genera in the Liliaceae sensu lato to conform with the Flora o f Southern Africa pattern.
below, where they may form two extended spurs; anthers introrse, yellow, orange or red.Ovary 3-locular: ovules 6 -1 2 in each locule.biseriate: styles 1 or 3, stigmas 3. papillate.Berry globose or ovoid-apiculate, red, yellow or orange: seeds globose, black.Species 12. recorded from the W inter Rainfall Region, with M. asparagoides and M. ramosissimum extending along the eastern Escarpment to the Transvaal: the former also spreading northwards to tropical Africa and southern Europe.Recently recorded as a troublesome adventive in Australia.
Scandent with thin stems up to c. 0,4 m tall, or short, erect and compact (in dry areas in Nama qualand).Rhizome thin, horizontal, up to 0.5 m long, covered by a cylinder of overlapping small, fusiform, pointed tubers c. 10 x 3 mm, occasionally some continuing below as normal thin roots but scattered long filiform roots are also produced, sometimes one of these producing a tuber distant from rhizome.Phylloclades ovate to cordate, c. 15-25 mm long, apiculate.many-veined, margin papillate.Flowers 1 -3 in axils of membranous scale-leaves; stalk c. 5 mm.curved, articulated below perianth.Tepals c. 7 mm, forming a wide tube below, spreading above.Stamens as long as tepals, filaments expanded at base, flat.Ovary ovoid, with 10-12 ovules in each locule.Styles 3, curved outwards: stigmas apical, papillate.B ern not seen.It is the only Myrsiphyllum species in which the three styles have not fused into a single column.
Branches usually short, with beaded ridges.Phylloc lades variable in size and shape, ovate-acuminate, c. 2 5 -4 0 x 8 -20 mm, flat or folded and curved, many-nerved but mostly with 3 more pronounced on each side; margin smooth or minutely denticulate.Flowers on pedicels c. 10 mm long, articulated below perianth.Tepals 6 -10 mm long, forming a tube in lower half, reflexed above.Stamens erect, con-nivent, expanded below into 2 small spreading teeth; anthers red.Ovary pear-shaped, stipitate.narrowed into a style as long as ovary; ovules c. 6 in each locule; stigmas short, spreading, ciliate.Berry globose, c. 10 mm in diam.. usually manv-secded.Scandent, with twining branches up to 1 -1,5 m tall.Rhizome compact scaly, woody with long roots extending in all directions, bearing numerous hard, swollen, fusiform tubers c. 50-100 x 20 mm.far removed from rhizome: much smaller in young plants: tubers may bring forth young plants at their proximal ends.Phylloclades deciduous, ovate, 30 X 15 mm but variable in size, many-nerved.shiny.Flowers 1 -3 , beside the base of a phylloclade; pedicels c. 10 mm.articulated near base of flower..Confined to the Cape Province, usually along the coastal belt from the south-western Cape to the eastern Cape, but also inland.

C O S M I III
M. E. D.
T ypis Rcjjiae Ccliicudinis.A pud T artin iu m fit Franchium .Super.P erm jfu.M. volubile can be distinguished from M. kraussianum by its softer phylloclades, which are rounded at the base and do not show a midrib.
Giving off a garlic odour which scents the air around' (Tyson).Milk becomes tainted when cows feed on this plant.
Recorded from the Cape Peninsula along the west coast to South West Africa/Namibia, usually in the strandveld with its sandy soil.Flowering in spring.Fig. 10.
Chamaephyte with erect annual stems c. 0.5 m tall, slender, attenuated above, covered by a feathery 'cylinder' of much abbreviated densely leafy branches, appearing 'fox-tail' shaped.Rhizome creeping, long, densely covered by numerous allantoid, shortly stalked root-tubers, placed in all directions, up to 40 X 10 mm, continued below as normal thin roots, densely covered by a velamen of root hairs.Stems ridged, scale-leaves persisting.Branches c. 30 mm long, ascending, overlapping.Phylloclades narrowly linear, c. 12 x 0,5 mm, glossy, yellow-green, margin densely ciliate, apex mucronate.Flowers solitary on the short branches; pedicels 1 mm long with the disk below perianth.
Apparently endemic to the north-western Cape from Namaqualand to Clanwilliam, in sandy places in Namaqualand Broken Veld.Flowering in winter.Marloth 6719 from Garies-Okiep and Andrcae 409 from Klawer show a sudden lengthening of the upper side-branches giving the plants a plumose apex.This has also been observed in other species adopting the cylindric habit.Schlechter on some of his collections gave it the name 'alopecurus', (as 'alepocurus'), meaning fox tail.9. Myrsiphyllum declinatum (L .)Oberm., comb.nov.
Recorded from southern South West Africa/Na mibia to Namaqualand, the Cape Peninsula and east as far as Riversdale; in fynbos o r coastal scrub, usually on rocky outcrops.Flowering M ay-September.Fig. 15.ed., Lil., t. 407 (1813).Type:

Fig. 1
Fig. 1.2, 2.2, 3.2, 5a & 5b.Widespread and common in southern and eastern Cape forests and coastal valley bushveld; inland in wooded areas and along riverbanks in the eastern parts of Natal and Transvaal.Also recorded from South West Africa/Namibia and further north to tropical Africa.Naturalized locally in southern Europe.An invader in Australia where it has become troublesome.Flowering July-Septem ber.Fig. 6.Vouchers Goldblatt 2638; Archibald 3610; Rosch dc Le Roux 457: Ward 4998; Merxmiiller & Giess 32272; Purcell 1. Introduced in England in 1702 by the Duchess of Beaufort.It was in cultivation in the hortus in Pisa, Italy and illustrated in Tilli's Catalogue o f Plants in 1723, on tab, 12, f. 1.The plant pictured on the

Fig. 12 .
Fig. 12.-Myrsiphyllum juniperoides, showing a soft branch which developed after the plant was placed in a conservatory at the Botanical Research Institute.J J. Lavranos 21242.Rosh Pinah.SWA'Namibia.