Part 5

DESCRIPTION:--_Bulb_ ovoid, 3 cm. in diameter, produced into a neck about 3 cm. long, with fleshy cylindrical roots from the base. _Leaves_ 4, 16-30 cm. long, 1·7 cm. broad, strap-shaped or linear-lanceolate, tapering to the apex, keeled beneath, channelled above, glabrous. _Peduncle_ arising at the side of the leaves, 14 cm. long, terete, solid, glabrous. _Inflorescence_ an umbel of about 11 flowers. _Bracts_ 2·5 cm. long, ovate, acuminate. _Pedicels_ 1·7 cm. long, terete, glabrous. _Perianth-tube_ 2·5 cm. long, 6 mm. in diameter at the throat, funnel-shaped, reddish-scarlet; lobes 5 mm. long, 5 mm. broad, elliptic or sub-orbicular, with a minute apiculus; the 3 outer lobes with a glandular structure at the apex. _Stamens_ inserted near the throat of the perianth-tube; anthers in 2 rows, sessile, 4 mm. long. _Ovary_ 4 mm. long, ellipsoid; style 2·2 cm. long, filiform; stigmas 3 linear.--E. PERCY PHILLIPS.

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PLATE 37.--Fig. 1, leaf and flowers, natural size; Fig. 2, bulb and base of leaves; Fig. 3, perianth laid open; Fig. 4, portion of style showing the stigmas.

F.P.S.A., 1921.

PLATE 38.

OROTHAMNUS ZEYHERI.

_Cape Province._

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PROTEACEAE. Tribe PROTEEAE.

OROTHAMNUS, _Pappe_; _Benth. et Hook. f._ vol. iii. p. 171 (under Mimetes).

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=Orothamnus Zeyheri=, _Pappe in Bot. Mag._ t. 4357; _Fl. Cap._ vol. v. sect. 1, p. 650.

* * * * *

This species is another _rara avis_ of the Cape Flora. It was figured for the first time in 1848 (_Botanical Magazine_ t. 4357) from a painting sent by Dr. Pappe to Kew. Carl Zeyher discovered the species on the Hottentots Holland Mountains, and for very many years afterwards it remained unknown to botanists in the fresh state. Mr. E. J. Steer, of Cape Town, some years ago purchased specimens from a coloured flower-seller and photographed it, and this year (1920) it was met with more than once exposed for sale among the wild flowers in Adderley Street, Cape Town. Every effort of botanical collectors to discover the locality in which the species grows has up to now proved unsuccessful, and no information can be obtained from the coloured flower-pickers. The plant has no local name as far as we have been able to ascertain, and we propose the name “Zeyher’s Orothamnus” for this species.

Our plate was made from a fresh specimen bought in Cape Town by Mr. T. P. Stokoe.

DESCRIPTION:--An erect shrub, 6-8 ft. high. _Branches_ pilose with long hairs. _Leaves_ 1-2¼ in. long, ¾-1¼ in. broad, slightly imbricate, obovate or oblanceolate-spathulate, with a very obtuse blackish apex, slightly narrowing at the base, or rarely the upper leaves attenuated, distinctly 5-6 nerved, rigidly sub-coriaceous, densely ciliate when young, otherwise glabrous or more or less scantily pilose. _Heads_ sessile, 2-2½ in. long, many-flowered. _Involucral bracts_ petaloid, 4-5-seriate, 1¾-2 in. long, 4-12 lin. broad, spathulate-oblong, rounded at the apex, many-nerved, membranous, pilose, ciliate, rose-red, the outermost densely shaggy-pilose. _Perianth-tube_ 3 lin. long, cylindric, pubescent; segments lemon-yellow, 1¼ in. long, linear, pilose; limb 4 lin. long, linear scantily pilose. _Filaments_ swollen, fused with the perianth; anthers 3½ lin. long, linear, with an ovate obtuse apical gland ¼ lin. long. _Hypogynous scales_ 5-6 lin. long, linear, obtuse, brown. _Style_ 1¾ in. long, grooved, glabrous; stigma 3½ lin. long, grooved, obtuse; ovary 1 lin. long, globose. Fruit 3 lin. long, oblong, smooth and shining (ex. _Flora Capensis_).

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PLATE 38.--Fig. 1, portion of plant, natural size; Fig. 2, a single flower; Fig. 3, upper portion of a perianth-lobe showing a stamen; Fig. 4, apex of style.

F.P.S.A., 1921.

PLATE 39.

CEROPEGIA RENDALLII.

_Transvaal._

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ASCLEPIADACEAE. Tribe CEROPEGIEAE.

CEROPEGIA, _Linn._; _Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant._ vol. ii. p. 779.

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=Ceropegia Rendallii=, _N.E. Br. in Kew Bull._, 1894, p. 100; _Fl. Cap._ vol. iv. sect. 1, p. 814.

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An exceedingly quaint and graceful little plant, and an acquisition to the greenhouse.

Our illustration was made from a specimen collected by Dr. Ethel M. Doidge at Onderstepoort, near Pretoria, and grown at the Division of Botany. The locality is a new record for the species as hitherto it had only been known from the Barberton and Lydenburg Districts.

The claw of the petal-lobes are united into a single column in the young flowers but in the older flowers become separated.

The species was first described by Mr. N. E. Brown, in 1894, and is now figured for the first time.

DESCRIPTION:--_Rootstock_ a flattened tuber, 2·5 cm. in diameter. _Stem_ twining, slender, glabrous. _Leaves_ 1·2-2·5 cm. long, 5-8 mm. broad, linear or linear-oblong, somewhat fleshy, apiculate, glabrous, sometimes with a slight ciliation on the margins. _Peduncles_ 1·5-2 cm. long, slender, with 2 small bracts about the middle, 1-3 flowered. _Sepals_ subulate. _Corolla-tube_ 2 cm. long, globose at the base, contracted into a funnel-shaped tube much dilated at the throat; lobes united into an umbrella-shaped canopy supported on claws about 5 mm. long. _Outer-corona_ about 1 mm. long, of 5 small pocket-like lobes, truncate at the top or rising into a minute deltoid point at the dorsal angle, inner coronal-lobes about 1 mm. long, falcate, recurved. _Follicles_ about 10 cm. long, 3 mm. in diameter, terete, tapering from about the middle to a slightly dilated apex, glabrous, greenish or irregularly striped with rupple-red.

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PLATE 39.--Fig. 1, plant, natural size; Fig. 2, flower; Fig. 3, canopy in fully-opened flower seen from above; Fig. 4, side view of canopy in bud; Fig. 5, canopy in bud seen from above; Fig. 6, corona; Fig. 7, follicles.

F.P.S.A., 1921.

PLATE 40.

SARCOCAULON RIGIDUM.

_South-West Africa._

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GERANIACEAE. Tribe GERANIEAE.

SARCOCAULON, _Sweet_; _Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant._ vol. i. p. 272.

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=Sarcocaulon rigidum=, _Schinz in Verh. Bot. Ver. Brand._, vol. xxix. p. 59, (1888).

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This remarkable plant, one of the so-called “Bushman’s Candles” or “Candle Bush,” flowered in the garden of the Division of Botany, Pretoria, in September, 1919. The specimens were collected by Major C. W. Lewis at Aus in South-West Africa. It is very closely allied to _S. Burmanni Sweet_.[D] We are indebted to the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, for the determination.

The plant appears to do quite well in cultivation as specimens have flowered and set mature fruit for two seasons at Pretoria.

DESCRIPTION:--_Stems_ very stout and smooth, with a waxy epidermis. _Primary leaves_ with long petioles, which, after the blade falls off, are hardened so as to form thorns 1·5-4 cm. long; lamina 1-1·6 cm. long, 5-9 mm. broad, obovate, cuneate at the base, retuse or sometimes 3-toothed at the apex, glaucous, glabrous; secondary leaves arising in the axils of the primary leaves, sessile or sub-sessile, obovate, cordate at the apex, cuneate at the base, entire. _Stipules_ 2 mm. long, ovate-lanceolate, usually ciliate, deciduous. _Sepals_ 1·2 cm. long, 6 mm. broad, obovate-oblong, obtuse, bluntly mucronate and shortly bearded at the apex, with membranous margins, concave, glabrous. _Petals_ 2·2 cm. long, 1·6 cm. broad, obovate, somewhat truncate at the apex, glabrous, ciliate on the cuneate base. _Stamens_ 15, of two different lengths; the filaments of the 10 shorter stamens not equalling the styles, 7 mm. long, linear, tapering to the apex, ciliate below; the filaments of the 5 long stamens exceeding the styles, 1·2 cm. long; anthers 2 mm. long, oblong. _Ovary_ 3 mm. long, obovate in outline, silky; styles cohering, 6 mm. long, silky; stigmas 5, 2 mm. long, subterete, obtuse. _Carpels_ 1 cm. long, produced into a long awn densely pilose in the upper half.

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PLATE 40.--Fig. 1, sepal; Fig. 2, petal; Fig. 3, stamens, enlarged; Fig. 4, ovary and styles, enlarged; Fig. 5, transverse section of ovary, enlarged; Fig. 6, fruit.

F.P.S.A., 1921.

INDEX TO VOLUME I.

PLATE

ACOKANTHERA SPECTABILIS, 24

ADENIUM MULTIFLORUM, 16

AGAPANTHUS UMBELLATUS, 1

ALOE GLOBULIGEMMA, 2

ALOE PIENAARII, 17

ALOE PRETORIENSIS, 18

ARCTOTIS FOSTERI, 3

BOLUSANTHUS SPECIOSUS, 23

CEROPEGIA MEYERI, 30

CEROPEGIA RENDALLII, 39

CLERODENDRON TRIPHYLLUM, 19

CLIVIA MINIATA, 13

CRASSULA FALCATA, 12

CYRTANTHUS CONTRACTUS, 4

CYRTANTHUS MCKENII, 33

CYRTANTHUS OBLIQUUS, 35

CYRTANTHUS ROTUNDILOBUS, 37

CYRTANTHUS SANGUINEUS, 25

FREESIA SPARMANII _v._ FLAVA, 11

GARDENIA GLOBOSA, 14

GERBERA JAMESONI, 5

GLADIOLUS PSITTACINUS, var. Cooperi, 6

GLADIOLUS REHMANNI, 20

HAEMANTHUS NATALENSIS, 32

LEUCADENDRON STOKOEI. (MALE.), 7

LEUCADENDRON STOKOEI. (FEMALE.), 8

MIMETES PALUSTRIS, 36

MORAEA IRIDIOIDES, 31

NYMPHAEA STELLATA, 29

OROTHAMNUS ZEYHERI, 38

PACHYPODIUM SUCCULENTUM, 21

PROTEA ABYSSINICA, 22

RICHARDIA ANGUSTILOBA, 10

RICHARDIA REHMANNI, 15

SARCOCAULON RIGIDUM, 40

SENECIO STAPELIAEFORMIS, 28

STAPELIA GETTLEFFII, 26

STREPTOCARPUS DUNNII, 27

TULBAGHIA VIOLACEA, 9

WITSENIA MAURA, 34

FOOTNOTES:

[A] NOTE.--Having been asked by Dr. Pole Evans to see the proofs of the first sheets of this new work through the press, he empowered me to make any change of nomenclature that might be necessary. For owing to the want of types and some of the rarer books at Pretoria, it is not always possible to make correct identifications there. From this cause the plants represented upon Plates 3 and 4 were misidentified, and the names “_Arctotis decurrens_” and “_Cyrtanthus angustifolius_” already printed upon the plates before they came into my hands for verification and found to represent new species. I have therefore substituted new names for these two plants, and have added Latin descriptions compiled from the drawings and Dr. Phillips’ English descriptions, which have not been altered.

It may not be out of place to state that the true _Arctotis decurrens_, Jacq. (which this species was supposed to be), differs by the basal leaves having usually only one small lobe or (grown under the condition of much moisture in a rich soil) two lobes on each side, and an elongated ovate oblong terminal lobe twice or more than twice as long as broad; the branching stem and peduncles have small entire leaves scattered along them; the ray florets are without a yellow spot at the base, and the pappus-scales are truncate (not pointed) at the tips.--N. E. BROWN.

[B] As stated under Plate 3, this plant had been supposed to be a form of _C. angustifolius_, and that name has unfortunately been printed upon the plate. It proves to be an entirely new species, well characterised by the very slender curved basal part of the flower-tube, and the long, tapering and very acute tips of the leaves, which are narrowed at the base into terete petioles, and also, to judge from the figure, are not produced at the same time as the flowers. In the true _C. angustifolius_, Aiton, the flowers and leaves are produced at the same time, the latter are flat to the base and very shortly pointed at the tips; the tube of the flower gradually narrows from apex to base without being contracted into a very slender basal part, and is less curved there.

There is a large-flowered variety of _C. angustifolius_ known as var. _grandiflorus_, Baker, which does not seem to be clearly understood in South Africa. A good figure of it, but reduced in size, appears in the _Gardeners’ Chronicle_, 1905, vol. 37, p. 261, f. 110, No. 2.--N. E. BROWN.

[C] NOTE. Although mistaken in South Africa for an allied species, this pretty bulb differs from all the other small-flowered species in the genus by its broad linear-lanceolate leaves, and the broadly elliptic or suborbicular perianth-lobes, which have suggested the specific name to me. In all the other species the perianth-lobes are oblong or elliptic-oblong. My description is compiled partly from the English description of Dr. Phillips and partly from a dried specimen.--N. E. BROWN.

[D] NOTE.--As Dr. Phillips has compared this plant with _S. Burmanni Sweet_, I would like to point out that it is very doubtful if the _S. Burmanni_ of the _Flora Capensis_ and the specimens in Herbaria so named, really represent the plant figured by Burmann, upon which that species was founded. Burmann (_Rar. Afr. Pl._ p. 7, t. 31) represents a plant with stems about half as thick as those of _S. rigidum_, constricted into short globose joints, with crenate (not entire) leaves and small flowers, of which he does not state the colours. I am doubtful if this plant is at present correctly represented in Herbaria.

It may also be well to point out that although the authority for the genus _Sarcocaulon_ and the species _S. Burmanni_ and _S. Heritieri_ are attributed to De Candolle in the _Flora Capensis_ they should be credited to Sweet, since De Candolle described them both as species of _Monsonia_ under the section _Sarcocaulon_, which Sweet rightly recognised as a distinct genus.

N. E. BROWN.