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THE FLOWERING PLANTS OF
SOUTH AFRICA.
A MAGAZINE CONTAINING HAND-COLOURED FIGURES WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF THE
FLOWERING PLANTS INDIGENOUS TO SOUTH AFRICA.
EDITED BY
I. B. POLE EVANS, C.M.G., M.A., D.Sc., F.L.S.,
Cfjicf, Dibision of ISotang anlr plant patfjologn, ©Epartmtnt of Agriculture, JBrctoua;
anti director of tfje botanical Surbrg of tfje anion of Soutf) Africa.
VOL. VIII.
The veld which lies so desolate and hare
Will blossom into cities white and fair,
And pinnacles will pierce the desert air,
And sparkle in the sun.
R. C. Macfie's “Ex Unitate Vires.”
L. REEVE & CO., Ltd.,
LLOYDS BANK BUILDINGS, BANK STREET, ASHFORD, KENT
SOUTH AFRICA:
THE SPECIALTY PRESS OF SOUTH AFRICA, Ltd.
P.O. BOX 388, CAPETOWN ; P.O. BOX 21, WYNBERG, CAPE.
1928.
[All lights reserved.)
?SJ.
Plate 281.
ALOE hereroensis var. Orpeniae.
Cape Province , Orange Free State.
Leliaceae. Tribe Aloineae.
Aloe, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 776.
Aloe hereroensis, Engl. var. Orpeniae, Berger in Engl. Pflanzenreich,
iv. 38, III. ii. p. 204. A. Orpeniae , Schonl. in Gard. Chron. (1905)
ii. 385, figs. 144 and 145.
This beautiful Aloe was first collected by Mrs. K. Orpen
at St. Clair, Douglas, District of Herbert, and named after
her by Dr. S. Schonland, but Berger later reduced it to a
variety of A. hereroensis, from which it differs in its more
slender habit. Our Plate was prepared from specimens
collected by Mr. C. A. Smith, B.Sc., on the farm “ Bergplaats ”
about five miles north-west of Fauresmith. It flowers in
September and is a very showy plant in the veld.
Description : — A subcaulescent plant with a basal
rosette of leaves. Leaves up to 36 cm. long, up to 8 cm. broad,
ovate-lanceolate, narrowly elliptic in cross-section, tapering
into a long pungent apex, rather firm, fleshy, whitish-green
in colour, fading into a pale purple-mauve in the uppermost
portion, distinctly lineate on both surfaces, somewhat concave
above, convex beneath, with a few widely placed short spines
in the uppermost portion, with toothed margins ; teeth
usually simple, rarely bifid, up to 4 mm. long, almost at right
angles to the margin. Scape up to 90 cm. long, branched;
unbranched portion about 2 cm. in diameter; branches
becoming incurved-erect, bearing membranous bracts.
Flowers in a congested many-flowered corymb, pendulous,
at length becoming erect, articulated at the base to the
pedicel. Bracts up to 1*8 cm. long, lanceolate, long-acuminate.
Pedicels up to 3 or 4 cm. long, terete. Perianth about 2-5 cm.
long, narrowed at the mouth, persistent in fruit; segments
membranous; inner segments with broad membranous mar-
gins and a narrow coral-red median carina-like portion ;
outer joined by the lower marginal part to the back of the
inner. Outer stamens shorter than the inner. Ovary ellipsoid,
3-angled, rugose; style eventually exceeding the perianth;
stigma small. (National Herbarium, Pretoria, No. 7408.)
Plate 281. — Fig. 1, median longitudinal section of flower; Fig. 2, a
perianth segment; Fig. 3, young fruit with remains of perianth.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
Plate 282.
EURYOPS MULTIFIDUS.
Gape Province , Orange Free State, Basutoland, Namaqualand.
Compositae. Tribe Senecionideae.
Etjbyops, Cass. ; Benth. et Hoolc.f. Gen. Plant, vol. ii. p. 452.
Euryops multifidus, DC. Prodr. vol. vi. p. 444 ; FI. Cap. vol. iii. p. 412.
This is the first opportunity we have had of figuring a
species of this characteristic South African genus. There are
about 43 species of Euryops in South Africa, and these are
widely distributed. Some of them are assuming economic
importance as they are beginning to invade over-grazed and
over-stocked veld. Our Plate was prepared from plants
which flowered in the garden of the Division of Botany,
Pretoria, and were raised from seed collected on the
Fauresmith Botanical Reserve, Fauresmith, O.F.S., by Mr.
C. A. Smith, B.Sc. When in flower the plant is very con-
spicuous on the hillsides and flats, and lends a characteristic
feature to the landscape, the yellow heads contrasting with
the green foliage and visible as yellow patches for long dis-
tances. As the bush is readily eaten by stock it has dis-
appeared from large areas in the Fauresmith district, but is
now protected in the Botanical Reserve there.
Description : — A woody perennial bush up to 60 cm.
high. Stems pale in colour, much-branched ; branches erect-
ascending, mostly nude, bearing the leaves on arrested
branchlets. Leaves up to 4 cm. long, narrow-linear with
broad bases, 3- (sometimes 5- many-) fid at the apex, channelled
above and beneath, woolly in the axils, minutely puberulous ;
segments linear or subterete, obtuse, apiculate. Peduncles up
to 3 cm. long, massed near the top of the branches, terete,
becoming slightly enlarged under the involucre. Involucre
campanulate; bracts green, herbaceous, in 1 row, ovate-
oblong, more or less equal, connate at the base, very obtusely
keeled, obtuse and lacerated at the apex, with pale mem-
branous margins, glabrous. Receptacle nude, convex, honey-
combed. Ray florets in one row, female, fertile. Corolla
yellow ; limb oblong, shortly 3-toothed. Ovary ovoid, densely
villous; style-branches flattened above, obtuse or subacute.
Achenes oblong-linear in outline, densely villous. Pappus of
numerous slender caducous scabrid bristles. Disc florets
bisexual, sterile. Corolla yellow, cylindric in the lower half,
then abruptly widening into a 5-fid campanulate portion ;
lobes triangular-ovate, subacute, often reflexed in old florets.
Anthers entire at the base, with an ovate-oblong subacute
apical appendage. Style on a slightly broadened base, bifid
at the apex ; branches more or less flattened, truncate, peni-
cillate. (National Herbarium, Pretoria, No. 7285.)
Plate 282. — Fig. 1, longitudinal section of head ; Fig. 2, surface view
of receptacle; Fig. 3, ray floret; Fig. 4, achene; Fig. 5, a single pappus
bristle enlarged; Fig. 6, disc floret; Fig. 7, stamen; Fig. 8, style.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
Plate 283.
BEGONIA Sutherlandii.
Natal, Transvaal.
Begoniaceae.
Begonia, Limn.’, Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. i. p. 841.
Begonia Sutherlandii, Hook in Bot. Mag. t. 5689.
The genus Begonia, comprising over 300 species, is well
represented in tropical America, Asia, and tropical Africa.
In South Africa we have eight species recorded, extending
from the mouth of the Kei River, through Natal to the spurs
of the Drakensberg in the northern Transvaal. The species
figured here was first discovered by Dr. Sutherland, a former
Surveyor-General of Natal, and later by Mr. Cooper, who was
sent to South Africa by Mr. W. Saunders, F.R.S., as a col-
lector. The figure in the Botanical Magazine was prepared
from plants which flowered with Messrs. Backhouse, York,
England, in June 1867. Our Plate was made from specimens
grown by Mr. J. C. van Balen, the officer-in-charge of the
Union Buildings gardens.
Description : — Root tuberous. Stem 30 to 60 cm. high;
branches purplish. Leaves up to 10 cm. long, 7*5 cm. broad,
obliquely ovate, acuminate, 2-lobed at the base, with lobed
and serrated margins, with reddish veins, and scattered glan-
dular hairs ; petiole 5 to 8 cm. long, terete, reddish. Stipules
0*8 cm. long, 0-4 cm. broad, more or less oblong, ciliate on the
margins. Cymes axillary and terminal. Flowers brick-red.
Outer perianth-lobes 2, herbaceous, 1 cm. long, 1*3 cm. broad,
suborbicular, covered with minute dots. Inner perianth-lobes
coloured, obovate. Male flower : stamens numerous ; fila-
ments slightly shorter than the anthers ; anthers with lateral
dehiscence. Female flowers : Ovary sharply 3-angled ; style
3-lobed, with the lobes cut and globose at the apices.
(National Herbarium, Pretoria, No. 7389.)
Plate 283. — Fig. 1, portion of male flower; Fig. 2, a single stamen;
Fig. 3, pistil; Fig. 4, cross-section through ovary.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
Plate 284.
GASTERIA obtusifolia.
Cape Province.
Liliaceae. Tribe Aloineae.
Gastekia, Duval in Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 775.
Gasteria obtusifolia, Haw. in Phil. Mag. 1827, p. 351 ; FI. Cap. vol. vi.
p. 290.
Gasteria obtusifolia, figured on the accompanying plate,
belongs to the section Linguae, all the species of which are
characterised by having a short stem and immersed tubercles.
Like many other species of this genus, its distribution in
South Africa is not fully known, the original description having
been drawn up in 1815 from plants which flowered in the
Vienna collection. The specimen figured was collected by
Mr. C. A. Smith, B.Sc., on a hill above Beaufort West Station
in March 1926, and flowered in the garden of the Division of
Botany, Pretoria, in October to November the same year.
The plant grows among stones in shady spots under other
plants. The young inflorescence resembles very much that
of the “ Slangkop ” ( TJrginea Burlcei).
Description : — Stem short. Leaves distichous in 3 to
5 pairs, 14 cm. long, 4-5 to 7 cm. broad, up to 5 mm. thick,
oblong, rounded at the apex, clasping at the base, convex on
both sides, dull green becoming reddish near the apex,
mottled, entire or callous-toothed round the apex, glabrous.
Peduncle up to 70 cm. high, erect, becoming recurved in the
uppermost third, simple or branched in the lower half, laterally
compressed below, becoming terete above. Bracts membran-
ous, white with reddish midrib, ascending, spreading, or
reflexed. Pedicel up to 6 mm. long, terete, reddish, recurving
in the lowermost two-thirds of the inflorescence, spreading to
ascending in the uppermost third. Mature perianth 1*5 cm.
long, ventricose at the base, tubular above, pink below,
greenish above. Filaments inserted at the base of the
perianth, white, herbaceous, subterete. Ovary cylindric,
with a small apical depression in which the style is inserted ;
style terete, curved at the apex. Fruit ellipsoid, subtrigonous.
(National Herbarium, Pretoria, No. 6539.)
Plate 284. — Fig. 1, flower ; Fig. 2, median longitudinal section of flower ;
Fig. 3, stamen ; Fig. 4, section of half of leaf.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
28S.
Plate 285.
EUPHORBIA BUB ALINA.
Cape Province.
Euphorbiaceae. Tribe Euphorbieae.
Euphorbia, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 258.
Euphorbia bubalina, Boiss. Cent. Euphorb. 26, and in DC. Prodr. xv. ii.
p. 90 ; FI. Cap. vol. v. sect. 2, p. 335.
This species of Euphorbia is found in the coastal districts
from East London to Bathurst. It was first described from
a living plant introduced by Mr. Cooper from British Kaf-
fraria, and which flowered at the Royal Botanic Gardens,
Kew. Euphorbia bubalina is a representative of the group of
succulent euphorbias which have no spines, and in this respect
resembles E. tuberculata figured on Plate 292. Our Plate
was prepared from specimens collected by Dr. Geo. Rattray
and Mr. C. A. Smith, B.Sc., at Green Point and Blind River
Valley, East London, in December 1926. They flowered in
the garden of the Division of Botany, Pretoria, in June-
August 1927. The plant is very typical along margins of
woods — the characteristic habitat — and often much eaten
down by goats. It is easily propagated from cuttings of the
mature plant if grown under shade.
Description : — A spineless shrub up to 130 cm. high.
Stem dark green, simple or branched, stout, succulent, sub-
cylindric, gradually tapering towards the base, leafy at the
apex, tuberculate, glabrous; tubercles subrhomboid, 0-5 to
1-5 cm. long, 0-6 to 0-9 cm. broad, about 1 mm. high, with a
distinct concave leaf-scar at the top of each tubercle. Leaves
sessile, alternate, scattered along the young branches or at
the apices of unbranched stems, up to 10 cm. long, 2-5 cm.
broad, oblanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, subacute or obtuse-
cuneate at the base, often folded along the midrib, glabrous.
Peduncles solitary in the axils of the leaves, up to 12 cm. long,
green, ascending-spreading, one or more forked, bearing 1 or
2 reduced leaves, terete, glabrous. Inflorescence a simple or
compound umbel, with a pair or usually 3 bracts at the base
of the umbel; rays up to 3-5 cm. long; bracts 1*2 to 2*5 cm.
long, 0-8 to 1*5 cm. broad at the base, deltoid or ovate-
cordate, acute, apiculate, subtruncate or cordate at the base,
green with crimson margins, often wholly crimson, glabrous.
Involucre sessile, up to 5 mm. in diameter, cup-shaped or sub-
cylindric, with 5 glands and 5 subquadrate lac erately- toothed
puberulous lobes; glands sessile, alternating with the lobes,
2-5 to 3-5 mm. in their greatest diameter, 1-5 mm. broad,
oblong or oblong-cuneate, entire, glabrous. Anthers 2-thecous,
oblong-elliptic or subglobose ; thecae more or less diverging ;
filaments stout, widening dowm wards to where each articulates
with a herbaceous terete pedicel from which the stamen soon
disarticulates. Ovary sessile, obscurely 6-angled, glabrous;
style 3-branched in the upper half ; branches erect, bifid at the
apices. Fruit 6 mm. long, about 8 mm. in diameter, trigonous,
subglobose, slightly narrowing upwards, tipped with the
persistent style. Seed brownish, ovoid, subacute, faintly
subreticulate or smooth. (National Herbarium, Pretoria,
No. 7260.)
Plate 285. — Fig. 1, inflorescence; Fig. 2, scales on receptacle; Fig. 3,
pistil ; Fig. 4, male flower ; Fig. 5, fruit ; Fig. 6, cross-section through fruit.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
Plate 286.
ALOE GRANDIDENTATA.
Orange Free State , Cape Province.
Liliaceae. Tribe Aloineae.
Aloe, Linn.; Benth. et Hoolc.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 776.
Aloe grandidentata, Salm-Dyck, Hort. 329; FI. Cap. vol. vi. p. 314.
Aloe grandidentata has been recorded from the Herbert
District, and also from near Johannesburg and Bulawayo.
It was first described from specimens cultivated in Europe.
The specimen from which our Plate was prepared was col-
lected on the Kopjie of the Botanical Reserve, Eauresmith,
O.F.S., by Mr. C. A. Smith, B.Sc., in August 1927, where it
forms one of the features of the hillside on the western slopes.
Description : — A subacaulescent succulent plant with a
basal rosette of leaves, 0-6 to 1 m. high including the inflor-
escence. Leaves in 2 to 8 series, up to 11 cm. long, 5*7 cm.
broad, oblong-elliptic, convex on both surfaces, thicker in the
upper part than in the lower part, usually suddenly contracted
into a dried-up terminal portion, mottled with lighter irregular
areas, toothed on the margin ; teeth 2*5 to 6 mm. long, ovate,
standing at right angles to the margin. Peduncle erect, terete,
usually branched into 2 to 5 branches, rarely simple, covered
with a greyish powdery pubescence. Pedicels up to 1 cm.
long, spreading or ascending, terete. Bracts lanceolate, long-
acuminate, exceeding the pedicels. Flowers ascending-
spreading or ascending, becoming pendulous with age.
Perianth (in open flowers) 2 to 2*3 cm. long, somewhat cam-
panulate; lobes 8 mm. long, 4 mm. broad, ovate-lanceolate,
obtuse. Stamens inserted at the base of the perianth ;
anthers 3-5 mm. long, ellipsoid. Ovary ellipsoid; style
terete; stigma small, capitate. (National Herbarium, Pre-
toria, No. 7406.)
Plate 286. — Fig. 1, median longitudinal section of flower.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
Plate 287.
BUDDLEIA salvifolia.
Cape Province, Natal, Basutoland, Orange Free State ,
Transvaal.
Loganlaceae. Tribe Euloganieae.
Buddleia, Linn. ; Benth. et HooJc.f. Gen. Plant, vol. ii. p. 793.
Buddleia salvifolia, Lam. Encycl. i. 513 ; FI. Cap. vol. iv. p. 1046.
This handsome plant, which is well worth cultivation, is
widely distributed in the Union, and ranges in altitude from
almost sea-level up to 6000 ft. According to Dr. T. R. Sim,
it is the first plant to establish itself in mountain forests after
a forest fire, and in such localities the grey or rusty appearance
of the landscape becomes visible for long distances. Dr.
Pappe states that the wood was used by the Kaffirs for
making shafts for their assegais. Our Plate was prepared
from specimens collected by Mr. C. A. Smith, B.Sc., at Water-
kloof near Pretoria. The common name of the plant is
“ Sagewood ” or “ Saliehout.” Round Pretoria it flowers
during the months of June and July, and in the ravines where
it is found growing the atmosphere becomes heavily scent-
laden when the plants are in full flower.
Description : — An erect shrub up to 4 m. high. Branch-
lets faintly 4-angled, rusty-tomentose. Leaves 4 to 15 cm.
long, 1*3 to 3 cm. broad, lanceolate, acuminate or sub-
acuminate, acute, cordate or subhastate at the base, finely
crenulate on the margins, dark green thinly pubescent and
finely rugose above, densely rusty- or hoary-tomentose
beneath. Inflorescence a large panicle of cymes. Peduncles
of cymes densely tomentose. Calyx 2*5 mm. long, cam-
panulate, densely pubescent ; teeth subtriangular, acute,
about half as long as the tube. Corolla yellowish-white, with
an orange throat ; tube cylindric, densely tomentose without,
hirsute within; lobes ovate or suborbicular, obtuse. Filar
ments about as long as the anthers ; anthers ovate in outline.
Ovary ovoid, hairy above; style terete; stigma somewhat
club-shaped. (National Herbarium, Pretoria, No. 7286.)
Plate 287. — Fig. 1, single flower enlarged ; Fig. 2, surface view of flower
showing hairs in the throat ; Fig. 3, corolla laid open ; Fig. 4, pistil.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
Plate 288.
EUPHORBIA TRICHADENIA.
Transvaal.
Euphorbiaceae. Tribe Euphorbieae.
Euphorbia, Linn.-, Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 258.
Euphorbia trichadenia, Pax in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. xix. p. 125 ; FI. Cap.
vol. v. sect. 2, p. 251.
The species of Euphorbia figured on the accompanying
plate belongs to a small group in the genus which have large
tuberous rootstocks, and if the illustration is compared with
the species of the genus previously figured, the difference in
the habit becomes apparent. The species is only known from
the Transvaal, having been collected in Zoutpansberg,
Waterberg, and Barberton Districts. It was recently col-
lected by Mr. C. A. Smith, B.Sc., on the Middelkop estate, on
the Springbok Flats, on the northern boundary of the Pretoria
District, in January 1926, and it flowered in the garden of the
Botany Division the following year.
Description : — Rootstock a large fleshy tuber up to 14 cm.
long and 10 cm. in diameter, globose, ovoid, or ellipsoid,
brown, with numerous irregular cracks in the outer skin,
produced above into a short or elongated neck. Branches
suberect, up to 10 cm. long, woody below, herbaceous above,
becoming 2- to 5-branched above. Leaves up to 4 cm. long,
1 cm. broad in the widest part, alternate, opposite at the
flowering nodes and at the forking of the branches, sessile,
linear to lanceolate-linear, somewhat fleshy, longitudinally
folded, often slightly recurving, acute, glabrous; lowermost
leaves smaller than the upper, often scale-like. Inflorescence
solitary in the forkings of the branches or sometimes 3 to 5 in
terminal cymes, shortly peduncled, 0-7 to 1 cm. in diameter,
cup-shaped, with 5 glands and 5 transversely rectangular or
subquadrate fringed lobes; glands pale yellowish, up to
3 mm. long and 5 mm. broad, palmate to flabelliform, deeply-
divided into several (up to 12) narrow linear segments once
or twice forked at the apices, flat or channelled above, with
the undivided basal portion concave just below the divisions
on the inner face and somewhat distinctly convex on the
lower face, glabrous. Ovary 7 mm. long, about 1*2 cm. in
diameter, on an erect stout stipe which equals or exceeds the
involucre, tipped by the persistent style; style up to 4 mm.
long, with revolute branches each minutely 2-lobed. Capsule
yellowish-brown, surrounded at the base by the persistent
and withered involucres, glabrous ; seed globose, up to 3-5 mm.
in diameter, acute at one end, thinly and minutely rugulose
with what appear to be irregular agglutinated masses of
minute hairs. (National Herbarium, Pretoria, No. 7253.)
Plate 288. — Fig. 1, inflorescence; Fig. 2, gland of inflorescence; Fig. 3,
male flower ; Fig. 4, cross-section of ovary.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
Plate 289.
COTYLEDON decussata.
Orange Free State, Namaqualand, Cape Province.
Crassuxaceae.
Cotyledon, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. i. p. 659.
Cotyledon decussata, Sims, Bot. Mag. t. 2518 ; FI. Cap. vol. ii. p. 372.
As the genus Cotyledon is under revision it is with a certain
amount of doubt that we give this plant a specific name, but
as it is the plant described in the Flora Capensis and in Curtis’
Botanical Magazine under this name, it has been adopted.
Dr. Lotsy, during his recent visit to South Africa, has shown
that hybridisation in this genus occurs in nature, and this
fact must fye borne in mind when the genus is being revised.
In the species figured, for instance, we find on the same plant
leaves which are perfectly terete, while others again are
flattened above and convex on the underside. Cotyledon
decussata is known as the “ Berg Besie ” in the Fauresmith
District, and the name is derived from the fact that children
use the leaves as playthings to represent oxen. Our specimen
was collected in the Fauresmith Botanical Reserve by Mr.
C. A. 'Smith, B.Sc.
' Description : — A perennial, 30 to 38 cm. high. Stem
short, succulent, distinctly woolly at the base, much branched
or simple; branches closely leafy at the apices, and the
younger branches covered with broad semi-circular leaf-scars,
often with a white bloom. Leaves up to 12 cm. long, terete
or flat on the upper and convex on the lower surface, fleshy,
with a flattened narrow apex, flattened and sub-clasping at
the base, green, often red towards the apex. Peduncle pink
to brownish-red in colour, terete, glabrous. Flowers pendulous
on slender pedicels. Calyx-lobes short, ovate, obtuse. Corolla-
tube reddish without, green within, hairy at the insertion of
the filaments; lobes recurved-spreading, closely and densely
mottled with red on a yellowish background, ovate, obtuse.
Filaments at first erect and adpressed to the styles into a
column, then suddenly spreading when the pollen is about ripe.
Styles longer than the filaments and eventually recurving
over the anthers. Glands bilobed. (National Herbarium,
Pretoria, No. 7388.)
Plate 289. — Fig. 1, a single flower; Fig. 2, corolla laid open to show
insertion of filaments ; Fig. 3, carpels, showing glands at the base of each ;
Fig. 4, outline cross-section of leaf.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
Plate 290.
HAWORTHIA Bolusii.
Cape Province.
Liliaceae. Tribe Aloeneae.
Hawoethia, Duval-, Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 777.
Haworthia Bolusii, Baker in Journ. Linn. Soc. xviii. p. 215; FI. Cap.
vol. vi. p. 354.
On Plate 252 we figured a species of Haworthia belonging
to the section Tessellatae ; our present Plate represents a
species in the section Arachnoideae, all the species of which
have cartilaginous bristles on the margins of the leaves.
Haworthia Bolusii was first collected round Graaff Reinet by
the late Dr. H. Bolus, but was previously known in cultivation
in Europe, being introduced there by Bowie in 1823. It has
since been collected by Mr. E. E. Galpin at Queenstown and
by Dr. Bolus at Prince Albert. The present Plate was pre-
pared from specimens collected by Mr. R. A. Dyer, M.Sc.,
at Broda Station, where it was growing amongst Pentzia and
Asparagus. It flowered in the garden of the Division of
Botany in October 1927.
Description : — An acaulescent plant, with the leaves in
a basal rosette. Leaves succulent, 4*5 cm. long, 1*7 cm. broad,
lanceolate, flat on the inner face, somewhat convex on the
back, keeled in the upper half and with cartilaginous bristles
on the keel, with the margins furnished with cartilaginous
bristles in the uppermost third and with a long awn at the
apex, light green in the lower two-thirds, semi-transparent in
the uppermost third, with distinct green veins, glabrous.
Scape up to 25 cm. long including the inflorescence, terete,
with scattered membranous ovate acute scales. Inflorescence a
raceme, 13 cm. long. Pedicel 3 mm. long. Bract membranous,
ovate, slightly longer than the pedicel, with somewhat crenate
margins. Perianth bilabiate, 1*3 cm. long; segments keeled
with green; lobes oblong, obtuse. Filaments 6 mm. long;
anthers 1-5 mm. long, somewhat globose. Ovary 4 mm. long,
ellipsoid ; style 0-5 mm. long ; stigma 3-lobed, with each lobe
bifid and hairy at the tip. (National Herbarium, Pretoria,
No. 7386.)
Plate 290. — Fig. 1, single flower, enlarged; Fig. 2, median longitudinal
section of flower ; Fig. 3, pistil ; Fig. 4, leaf, back view ; Fig. 5, outline cross-
section of leaf.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
V91.
Plate 291.
GASTERIA CARINATA.
Cape Province.
Liliaceae. Tribe Aeoineae.
Gastebia, Duval in Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 775.
Gasteria carinata, Haw. Syn. 87 ; FI. Cap. vol. vi. p. 296.
The accompanying Plate should be compared with that
of Gasteria obtusifolia, and it will be noted that the leaves
are covered with raised tubercles, a character of the species
which belongs to the section Carinatae of the genus. Gasteria
carinata was introduced into Europe early in the eighteenth
century, and was first described from cultivated plants.
There is only one collection recorded in the Flora Capensis,
that of Carl Zeyher, the locality of which is unknown. Our
Plate was prepared from specimens collected by Mr. C. A.
Smith, B.Sc., on the western slopes of a hill near Robertson
Station. Two forms, one with distichous, the other with
multifarious leaves, grow intermixed in shady spots under
plants of Euphorbia mauritanica. The leaves are browsed
by goats. The specimens from which our drawing was pre-
pared flowered in the garden of the Division of Botany from
September to October 1926.
Description : — An acaulescent succulent perennial. Leaves
in 3 decussate pairs, rarely distichous when young, up to
11 cm. long and 3-5 cm. broad, lanceolate, obtuse, 3-angled,
wdth the facial angle fading off near the apex, concave on
the inner face, white-spotted, with the spots collected into
irregular horizontal bands, wdth cartilaginous-dentate margins.
Peduncle up to 38 cm. long, erect, rigid, terete. Flowers in
racemes. Bracts scarious, lanceolate, acuminate. Pedicels
up to 7 mm. long, terete. Perianth ventricose below, tubular
above; lobes ovate, obtuse. Stamens inserted at the base
of the perianth. Ovary ellipsoid; style terete; stigma capi-
tate. (National Herbarium, Pretoria, No. 5577.)
Plate 291. — Fig. 1, median longitudinal section of flower.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
2.92
Plate 292.
EUPHORBIA TUBERCULATA.
Cape Province, Namaqualand.
Euphorbiaceae. Tribe Ettphorbieae.
Euphorbia, Linn. ; Benth. et HooJc.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 258.
Euphorbia tuberculata, Jacq. Hort. Schoenbr. ii. 43, t. 208; FI. Cap.
vol. v. sect. 2, p. 333.
This species of Euphorbia was grown in European gardens
over 130 years ago and was figured in the year 1797 by Jacquin
in his work Plantarum Rariorium Horti Caesar ei Schoen-
brunnensis. A specimen collected by Drege near Saldanha
Bay appears to be the oldest in herbaria, all the others having
been gathered by later collectors. The species belongs to
the same general section of the genus as E. tridentata figured
on Plate 197. Our Plate was prepared from specimens
collected by Mr. C. A. Smith, B.Sc., at Paleisheuvel and
Klaver, van Rhynsdorp Division, which flowered in the
garden of the Botany Division during the months of July
and August 1926-27. This is the so-called “ Noord pool ”
plant, owing to the fact that the branches radiating from the
thick partly buried stem curve round so as to point prac-
tically due north. In the sands round Klaver the plant
often becomes very heavily coated with a white calcareous-
siliceous incrustation which probably plays a part in reflecting
the intense heat rays.
Description : — A succulent perennial up to 75 cm. high.
Plant body thick, obconic, tuberculate, wholly or partly buried
in the soil, with a very long main root which sometimes
bifurcates. Branches up to 70 cm. long, thickened upwards,
often 4 cm. in diameter, erect or decumbent, dull-green in
colour (often white in wild specimens), covered with rhomboid
tubercles which are more prominent in younger specimens,
bearing the hardened persistent peduncles on the upper
portion. Leaves somewhat fleshy, 0*5 to 4 cm. long, about
0-15 cm. broad, erect or spreading-ascending, linear, acute
and recurved at the apex, channelled down the face, with
reddish incurved margins, glabrous, soon deciduous though
contemporaneous with the flowers. Peduncles 0-5 to 2 cm.
long, elongating to 5 cm., solitary in the axils of the upper
tubercles, spreading or ascending, mostly persistent, at first
fleshy, eventually hardening, somewhat flattened on the upper
face, bearing 4 bracts and a single inflorescence at the apex,
glabrous; bracts 3-5 to 4 mm. long, about 3 mm. broad,
elliptic-obovate, concave, obtuse, ciliate, glabrous, soon
withering. Involucre up to 1-8 cm. (including teeth of the
glands) long, broadly bowl-shaped, with 5 glands and 5 sub-
quadrate, toothed and minutely ciliolate lobes, glabrous ;
glands closely sessile on the cup of the involucre and alter-
nating with the lobes, about 3-5 mm. long, 5 mm. broad,
broadly cuneate, palmatifid with 3 to 6 creamy often crimson-
tipped spreading processes which recurve at their apices,
velvety greenish-brown on the upper surface. Anthers 2-
thecous; thecae more or less diverging, longitudinally de-
hiscent ; filament short, articulating with an acute herbaceous
pedicel from which the stamen soon falls away. Ovary sessile,
quite included in the involucre, densely pubescent with erect
somewhat bristle-like hairs; styles exserted, up to 5 mm.
long, stout, terete, with very short slightly spreading thickened
tips. Capsule sessile, 6 mm. long, 6 mm. in diameter, obtusely
and somewhat deeply 3-lobed as seen from above, with a
distinct carinal ridge on the back of each lobe, surrounded at
the base by the dried involucre, tipped with the persistent
style, pubescent with longish white hairs. (National Herb-
arium, Pretoria, No. 5559.)
Plate 292. — Fig. 1, plant much reduced; Fig. 2, inflorescence; Fig. 3
male flowers ; Fig. 4, a female flower ; Fig. 5, fruit.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
293
L. Guthrie del.
Plate 293.
EULOPHIA ROBUSTA.
Cape Province, Natal, Orange Free State, Transvaal.
Orchidaceae. Tribe Vandeae.
Eulophia, R. Br. in Bot. Reg. t. 686 ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii.
p. 535.
Eulophia robusta, Rolfe in FI. Cap. vol. v. sect. 3, p. 35.
According to Rolfe’ s account of the Orchidaceae in the
Flora Capensis, the genus Eulophia contains two more species
than Pisa, and thus has the distinction of being the largest
genus of its family as represented in South Africa. Of these,
some fifty species have not yet been figured, and we look
forward with much satisfaction to increasing the number of
published plates of so interesting a genus in these pages.
Our present species, formerly included in E. Dregeana,
Lindl., was separated by Rolfe on the character of the cresting
of the lip, inasmuch as this is strong and extends further
towards the apex of the lip in the latter species; whereas in
E. robusta, Rolfe, the crests are “ rather slender and scat-
tered.” In practice it is difficult to distinguish the two
species.
The colour of the petals and lip varies from yellow to
white and pink or, as in the specimen depicted here, to a
mauve-pink. This range of colour, as Mr. Rolfe notes in the
Flora Capensis, is remarkable. It is among the larger-
flowered species in the genus, and it belongs to the group
in which the leaves are well-developed during the flowering-
period and dry off as the fruit ripens. In this respect it
contrasts with E. fragrans, Schltr. (from Heidelburg, Trans-
vaal) and E. litoralis, Schltr. (a coast-plant extending from
Knysna to Hermanus), where the leaves are completely
hysteranthous, as well as with those species whose leaves are
hysteranthous in a lesser degree.
The geographical distribution is northwards from Griqua-
land East to Natal, Basutoland, Orange Free State, Transvaal,
and Bechuanaland. In the Transvaal it is recorded from
numerous stations, including the neighbourhood of Pretoria
and Johannesburg. Our Plate was drawn from a plant which
flowered at Kirstenbosch in the National Botanic Gardens
(No. sent by Mr. V. S. Peers, who collected it in the
Northern Transvaal.
Description : — Plant erect, usually 30 to 45 cm. high.
Rhizome stout, up to 5 cm. in diameter. Leaves 8 to 10, the
two lowest broader and sheath-like, the rest increasing suc-
cessively in length to the sixth and seventh leaves which
sometimes reach to the apex of the inflorescence, linear,
usually up to 30 cm. long, 2 cm. broad. Flowering stem
with 3 to 6 sheathing leaves longer than, or about equalling,
the internodes. Raceme reaching to 15 or 16 cm. in length,
bearing as many as 15 rather distantly placed flowers. Bracts
acuminate, falling short of, or exceeding, the ovary in length.
Pedicels up to 1 cm. long. Sepals oblong, acuminate, 2-6 cm.
long. Petals as long as the sepals, oblong-ovate, obtuse, pale
lilac outside, mauve-pink within. Lip inferior, oblong in
general outline, side-lobes obtuse, short, intermediate-lobe
rounded, sparingly crested, the crests reaching about half-way
to the apex; spur obtuse, 4 to 7 mm. long. Column oblong
in front view, slightly widened above the middle, 7 mm.
long, produced at base into a projecting foot. Anther almost
orbicular, slightly narrowing to the base, gland rather small.
Stigma rather broadfy elliptical. — L. Bolus.
Plate 293. — Fig. 1, reduced sketch of entire plant ; Fig. 2, inflorescence ;
Figs. 3, 4, side-sepal, back and front view; Fig. 5, odd sepal; Figs. 6, 7,
petal, back and front view ; Fig. 8, lip — all natural size ; Fig. 9, side-view
of flower with sepals removed; Figs. 10, 11, column, front and side view;
Fig. 12, apex of column with stigma, rostellum, and pollinarium, the lid-like
anther removed ; Fig. 13, anther, inner view — variously enlarged.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
294.
Plate 294.
PLECTRANTHUS galpinii.
Transvaal.
Labiatae. Tribe Ocimoideae.
Plectranthus, Lher. ; Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. ii. p. 1175.
Plectranthus Galpinii, Schltr. in Journ. Bot. 1896, 393; FI. Cap. vol. v.
sect. 1, p. 282.
This is the first occasion we have figured a species of this
genus, which is represented in South Africa by over forty
species. The South African species certainly deserve more
attention from horticulturists than have been given to them
in the past. They are easy of cultivation either from seed
or cuttings and make very fine ornamental shade plants.
The majority of the species are found in the eastern
districts, Natal, and the northern Transvaal ; they are mostly
shade-loving plants. Plectranthus Galpinii was first found by
Mr. E. E. Galpin, F.L.S., in wooded ravines near Barberton
in 1890.
Our specimen was prepared from plants raised from seed
at the Division of Botany, Pretoria. The seed was collected
by Mr. J. J. van Nouhuys at Waterval Boven. Mr. van
Nouhuys states that the plants grow among rocks in the
shade of trees. In the natural state the plants have a
characteristic swelling at the base of the main stem.
Description : — A herb about 1 m. high. Stem bluntly
4-angled, puberulous. Leaves opposite, petioled; petioles 4
to 10 cm. long; lamina up to 16 cm. long and 12 cm. broad,
broadly elliptic or ovate-elliptic, subacuminate, acute, almost
subtruncate at the base, with crenate, ciliate margins,
the veins sunken above and very prominent beneath, very
minutely hairy above, hairy beneath, especially on the veins.
Inflorescence a terminal much-branched panicle up to 40 cm.
long, sometimes inflorescence only branched into 3, sometimes
a raceme, sometimes racemes from the axils of the upper
leaves as well as the terminal panicle. Bracts green, 4 mm.
long, ovate, cuspidate-acuminate. Pedicels 7 mm. long.
Calyx-tube green, small; lobes lilac, 5, unequal, the upper
broadly ovate, the lower lanceolate, the 2 lowermost twice
as long as the 2 lateral. Corolla mauve, 2-lipped; tube
5 mm. long, gibbous on the upper side ; upper lip broad, flat,
shallowly 2-lobed, spotted with purple, lower lip somewhat
boat-shaped. Stamens exserted, declinate ; filaments free,
unequal. Style about as long as the stamens, with a lilac
tip. (National Herbarium, Pretoria, No. 7624.)
Plate 294. — Fig. 1, median longitudinal section through the flower;
Fig. 2, portion of leaf showing the prominent veins on the under surface.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
295
MMPaJe del.
Plate 295.
DISA EXTINCTORIA.
Transvaal, Natal.
Orchid ace ae. Tribe Ophrydeae.
Disa, Berg. PI. Cap. 348; Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 630.
Disa extinctoria, Reichb.f. in Flora , 1881, 328.
Nearly all the eleven species of Disa recorded from the
Transvaal have small or medium-sized flowers arranged, as
in D. extinctoria, in a dense spike. This massing of numerous
small flowers is more usual in the genus than the lax arrange-
ment, where the flowers are larger and fewer, the number
sometimes being reduced to three or four or, in D. longicornu
and D. maculata, to a solitary flower. On the other hand, it
is far more usual in the genus to find the leaves and flowers
on the same stem surmounting the previous year’s tuber,
while the new tuber is provided with a small bud only from
which the next year’s growth will develop. In D. extinctoria
and a few other species the case is different and the flowering-
stem alone surmounts the old tuber, the new one bearing an
abbreviated leaf-stem with the fully developed foliage-leaves.
The separate stems remind one of what occurs in Eulophia
and occasionally in Satyrium.
The brilliant colour, impossible to reproduce accurately,
accounts for the specific name which is derived from tinctus =
tinged or dyed, the prefix ex being used intensively.
The specimen figured here flowered in the National
Botanic Gardens (No. -^) in December 1917 from plants
sent by Mr. J. M. Sim from Rosehaugh near Sabie in North-
Eastern Transvaal.
Description : — Plant erect, glabrous, about 30 cm. high.
Tubers ovoid, 2*8 cm. long. Leaves about 5 on the separate
shoot, the lowest sheath-Hke, the rest linear, acuminate, up
to 13 cm. long and 2 cm. broad, those on the flowering-stem
about 12, reduced in size and more or less sheath-like, oblong-
ovate, acute or acuminate, passing off gradually into the
bracts. Spike dense, 12 cm. long, 1 to 1*4 cm. in diameter.
Bracts erect, the upper portion spreading, recurved or reflexed,
from a broad base, clasping the ovary, tapering to a long
and finely acuminate apex, up to 1-6 cm. long. Odd sepal
galeate, depressed from above so that the opening is somewhat
elliptic; spur slender, decurved, 4 mm. long. Side-sepals
ovate-oblong, 6 mm. long. Petals erect, almost round in the
lower half, the upper portions obliquely ovate, with the
posterior margin folded inwards, 4 mm. long. Lip linear,
slightly narrowed a little above the base, obtuse or subacute,
5 mm. long. Bostellum subquadrate, slightly narrowed in
the middle, the side-lobes longer than the inconspicuous
middle-lobe. Anther ascending or horizontal, large, globose.
Stigma round, separated from the rostellum by a concave
gap (sinus). — L. Bolus.
Plate 295. — Figs. 1, 2, flower, front and side view; Figs. 3, 4, do.,
sepals removed, front and side view ; Fig. 5, side sepal ; Fig. 6, petal ;
Fig. 7, lip ; Figs. 8, 9, column, front and side view ; Fig. 10, pollinium —
variously enlarged.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
zznr:
Plate 296.
WATSONIA FLAVIDA.
Transvaal.
Iridaceae. Tribe Ixieae.
Watsonia, Miller ; Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 705.
Watsonia flavida, Bolus in Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Afr. vol. i. p. 162.
This beautiful Watsonia was collected by Dr. I. B. Pole
Evans, C.M.G., at Vryheid in the Piet Retief District in
March 1928. The species is very common in the high country
of the eastern Transvaal towards the Swaziland border.
The species has also been collected by Mr. E. E. Galpin, F.L.S.,
on the Saddleback Mountains in the Barberton District, and
by Archdeacon F. A. Rogers at Mbabane in Swaziland. Our
Plate was prepared from the specimens collected by Dr. Pole
Evans.
Description : — Scape 0-6 m. high. Lower leaves 1 to 3
from near the base, up to 0-6 m. long, 0-6 mm. broad, linear,
with thickened margins and midrib, glabrous; leaves on
peduncle 3, clasping at the base, with short free points.
Spike 24 cm. long, with the flowers densely arranged in 2
ranks. Spathe-valves brown, 1 to 1*5 cm. long, oblong-ovate,
rigid. Perianth cream-coloured (R.C.S., PI. XVI); tube 1-5
cm. long, 6 mm. in diameter at the throat, slightly curved;
lobes 1 cm. long, narrowly oblong, apiculate, with the midrib
yellowish-brown. Stamens attached about half-way down the
perianth-tube and reaching to half the length of the lobes.
Style about as long as the stamens. (National Herbarium,
Pretoria, No. 7623.)
Plate 296. — Fig. 1, median longitudinal section of flower.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
297
M.M.Pa|e del.
Plate 297.
POLYSTACHYA transvaalensis.
Transvaal.
Orchidaceae. Tribe Vandeae.
Polystachya, Hook. Exot. FI. 1. 103 ; Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii.
p. 540.
Polystachya transvaalensis, Schlechter in Engl. Jahrb. xx. Beibl. 50, 28.
The genus Polystachya contains about 100 species “ widely-
diffused through the tropics, though the great majority are
African, and the ten South African species, so far as known,
are endemic.” With two exceptions (P. transvaalensis and
P. glaberrima ) all the South African species are found in
Natal, three of them extending southwards in the Eastern
Districts, and one of the latter reaching as far west as Knysna.
The two exceptions have hitherto been recorded from the
Transvaal only, both from near Barberton, and P. transvaal-
ensis also from the Houtboschberg, in primeval forest. The
specimen figured here was sent by Mr. E. T. E. Andrews
from Louw’s Creek and flowered at Kirstenbosch (National
Botanic Gardens, No. y82) in January 1919, when Miss Page’s
drawing was done. Drawings of five other species have been
published up to date, four of these being coloured. The
flowers of P. transvaalensis are perhaps the largest in the
genus as represented in South Africa. As there is no half-
twist in the ovary, the spurless lip is always superior.
The name, Polystachya (= many-branched or many-
spiked) probably refers to the inflorescence, which in some
cases is branched several times, as in our present species,
while in others it is unbranched.
All are epiphytic or perhaps only partially so, for this
year plants of P. transvaalensis at Kirstenbosch, growing in
a pot with soil and humus, have flowered well and look very
healthy. There was no thickening of the stems at the base
into pseudo-bulbs, as in P. pubescens and others, and it is
not clear from Schlechter’s description of the type whether
pseudo-bulbs were formed in the wild plants.
Description : — Plant erect, almost glabrous, 18 cm. high,
or taller in cultivated plants. Aerial roots numerous and
long, up to 4 mm. in diameter. Stem up to 5 mm. in diameter,
6- to 7-leaved. Leaves imbricate, the sheaths up to 3-5 cm.
long, the lower turning black after the blades become dis-
jointed and fall, the blades clasping at base, linear, obtuse,
up to 10 cm. long, 1*7 cm. broad, passing off abruptly into
the bracts. Inflorescence 5 cm. long, branched, branches
about 1-3 cm. long, few-flowered. Bracts broad-ovate, long-
cuspidate, 4 mm. long. Odd sepal ovate-oblong, shortly
cuspidate, 7 mm. long. Side-sepals 1-2 cm. long, up to
5 mm. broad, adnate to the column for two-thirds of their
length, connivent at the base, widely spreading towards the
apex. Petals spreading, 5 mm. long, spathulate, greenish-
white, the blade about 2 mm. broad, tinged or spotted with
light purple. Lip pendent, 8 mm. long, up to 7 mm. broad,
cuneate in the lower portion, widened upwards, 3-lobed, the
side lobes obtuse, the middle lobe acute, spotted and tinged
with reddish-purple, hispid with white stiffly erect hairs
which are glandular near the thickening down the centre of
the lip. Column spreading, 3 mm. long, produced to a foot
8 mm. long. Anther almost orbicular. Stigma elliptical,
slightly narrowed in the middle. — L. Bolus.
Plate 297. — Fig. 1, flower, front view ; Fig. 2, bract ; Fig. 3, odd sepal ;
Fig. 4, side sepal ; Fig. 5, petal ; Fig. 6, lip ; Fig. 7, column with petals
and lip, side view; Fig. 8, column with ovary, front view and somewhat
from above — all variously enlarged.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
298.
Plate 298.
HABENARIA dregeana.
Cape Province, Orange Free State, Transvaal, Natal.
Orchid ace ae. Tribe Ophrydeae.
Habenaria, Wield. ; Benth. et Hooic.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 624.
Habenaria Dregeana, Lindl. in Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. I. iv. 314 ; Bolus 1c.
Orch.-Austr.-Afr. i. t. 15 ; FI. Cap. vol. v. sect. 3, p. 136.
On Plate 130 of this work we figured for the first time a
species of Habenaria. The species shown on the accompany-
ing Plate has more or less the same general distribution as
H. foliosa.
The genus Habenaria contains over 500 species widely
spread through tropical and subtropical countries. In South
Africa 37 species are recorded, the majority of them occurring
in the eastern part of the Union and in the north-eastern
Transvaal.
We are indebted to Mr. G. Ranger, King Williams Town,
for the plant figured.
Description : — A herb, yellowish-green in general appear-
ance, 24 cm. high. Scape simple, straight, rather rigid,
covered with acuminate leaf-like bracts. Leaves 2, radical,
appressed to the ground, orbicular or oblong-orbicular, with
a short acute point, the lower 6 cm. long, the upper smaller.
Inflorescence a dense cylindric spike 7 cm. long. Flowers
sessile in the axils of the bracts and slightly exceeding them.
Sepals green, 6 mm. long, odd sepal erect, ovate, concave,
acuminate, lateral sepals spreading, obliquely ovate, acumi-
nate. Petals pale Veronese green (R.C.S. PL XVIII), ciliate;
lateral petals 2-partite, with the lower lobe much smaller
than the upper lobe which adheres to the odd sepal; lip
3-partite, with the lobes linear and the middle lobe much
longer than the 2 lateral lobes; spur 8 mm. long, somewhat
inflated near the apex. Column broad, somewhat hooded;
ascending arms of the rostellum 2 mm. long ; stigmatic
processes protruding, 4 mm. long. (National Herbarium,
Pretoria, No. 7625.)
Plate 298. — Fig. 1, median longitudinal section of flower.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
299.
Plate 299
ALOE LONGIBRACTEATA.
Transvaal.
Liliaceae. Tribe Aloineae.
Aloe, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 776.
Aloe longibracteata, Pole Evans in Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Afr. v. 30 (1915).
This species was described by Dr. I. B. Pole Evans, C.M.G.,
who collected it near Lydenberg in the Transvaal in May
1914. It occurs in open grass country at an altitude of 5,000
to 6,000 ft. and flowers from June to July. It is a con-
spicuous feature in the grass veld round Lydenberg and
Pietersburg, and the brightly coloured racemes make it a
distinct and ornamental plant. Our Plate was prepared
from a specimen collected by Dr. F. van der Merwe near
Piet Potgietersrust in August 1927.
Description : — An acaulescent succulent plant with a
basal rosette of leaves. Leaves 21 to 33, spreading, 9 to
20 cm. long, 9 to 1 1 cm. broad, triangular-lanceolate, frequently
dry and recurved at the apex, somewhat concave above,
green or reddish in colour, striped and blotched more or less
transversely, convex beneath, of a pale glaucous-green colour,
distinctly cartilaginous and toothed on the margins; teeth
6 to 7 mm. long and 9 to 12 mm. apart. Scape up to 80 cm.
high, branched below the middle, bracts 10 to 11 cm. long.
Flowers in dense racemes 25 to 30 cm. long. Bracts 4*5 to
4-7 cm. long, lanceolate-linear, subulate-acuminate. Pedicels
15 to 17 mm. long. Perianth 4 cm. long, ventricose at the
base, distinctly constricted above the ovary, slightly recurved.
Anthers slightly exserted. Capsule ellipsoid, 2-3 to 2-7 cm.
long, 1-3 to 1-6 cm. in diameter. Seeds 5 mm. long, oblong,
triquetrous, narrowly winged. (National Herbarium, Pretoria,
No. 7409.)
300.
Plate 300.
EULOPHIA PARVILABRIS.
Cape Province.
Orchid aceae. Tribe Vandeae.
Eulophia, R. Br. in Bot. Reg. t. 686 ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii.
p. 535.
Eulophia parvilabris, Lindley in Hook. Comp. Bot. Mag. ii. 201.
Eulophia parvilabris is one of the little-known species in
this large and difficult genus. In the Flora Capensis Rolfe
cites nothing but Drege’s original gatherings of nearly a
hundred years ago in Pondoland, between St. John’s River
and Umsikaba River. Schlechter placed his specimen, No.
4394, from Houtboschberg, Transvaal, under this species;
but his plant appears to be nearer, or probably the same as,
E. latipetala, Rolfe, founded on Bolus , 10975, obtained in the
same locality and flowering in the same month, February.
As I have not been able to compare the plant figured
here with Lindley’ s type-specimens, and have identified it
from the description only, there must of necessity be some
doubt regarding the correctness of the determination. The
short lip, however, with its extremely small side-lobes and an
absence of cresting on the middle lobe (very unusual in the
genus), agrees so well with the description that, if our plant
is not this species, it must be a very close ally. In any case
nothing appears to be known of the variations occurring
within the species, and therefore our determination cannot
be settled satisfactorily without a study of the fairly large
range of specimens, which up to the present has not been
available.
Our Plate was prepared from a plant sent to the Bolus
Herbarium in February 1916. Unfortunately the locality
was not recorded at the time and we have not been able to
trace its origin. Owing to exigencies of space all the leaves
are not fully portrayed, and an impression is given by the
leaves being bunched-up of an elongated leaf-stem. This is
misleading, for the arrangement is strictly in accordance
with the rule in this genus, namely, the leaves crowded
together on a very short stem, and the latter being separate
from the flowering-stem.
Description : — Plant erect, 41 cm. high. Rhizome very
stout, 3-5 cm. in diameter. Leaves 7, oblong or linear, the
upper ones gradually narrowed towards the apex, up
to 30 cm. long, 4 cm. broad. Flowering-stem rather stout,
6 mm. in diameter, entirely enclosed by 6 loosely sheathing
membranous leaves which reach a length of 9 cm., bearing
about 12 rather closely placed flowers. Bracts membranous,
exceeding the ovary, 1-2 to 2-5 cm. long. Sepals linear,
gradually tapering to a bristle-tip, green, 3-3 cm. long, 5 to
6 mm. broad. Petals ovate, obtuse or acute, 2-8 cm. long,
up to 1-6 cm. broad. Lip superior, ovate-elliptic, the side-
lobes scarcely evident and not projecting beyond the outline
of the central lobe, 4 to 5-keeled, keels with a few incon-
spicuous thread-like tubercles not extending to the central
lobe, 1-8 cm. long, T3 cm. broad; spur cylindrical slightly
widened at the apex and emarginate. Column oblong, 6 mm.
long, not, or very slightly, produced beyond the ovary into
a projecting foot. Anther almost orbicular. Stigma narrowly
elliptical. — L. Bolus.
Plate 300. — Fig. 1, sepal; Fig. 2, petal — natural size; Fig. 3, lip;
Fig. 4, lip and column, side view ; Figs. 5, 6, column, front and side view —
variously enlarged.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
301
C.Let/ty del.
Plate 301.
MORAEA BALENII.
Cape Province.
Ibid ace ae. Tribe Mob ace ae.
Mobaea, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 688.
Moraea Balenii Stent, sp. nov. Cormus globosus, c. 2 cm. latus;
tunicae fuscae, reticulatae, apice in setis rigidis 11 cm. longis fissis. Caulis
validus, c. 23 cm. altus ; vaginae virides, supra carinatae. Folia solitaria,
ad 150 cm. longa, valde convoluta nervataque, glabra. Spathae erectae,
acuminatae, pedicellis aequilongae. Flores flavi, 8 cm. diam. Segmenta
exteriora, 5-5-6 cm. longa, 1-6-2-5 cm. lata, obovata, apice minute
bidentata; segmenta interiora 4-2 cm. longa, -8-1 cm. lata, oblonga vel
oblongo-obovata, ungulata. Filamenta 7-12 cm. longa; antherae 1-2 cm.
longae, lineares. Ovarium 2-5 cm. longum, obtuso 3-angulatum ; lobi stylis
3-2 cm. longi, 7 mm. lati, 2-fidi. East Griqualand, Kokstad, on summit of
kopjies, alt. c. 5500 ft., Mogg in National Herbarium 1057 ; Queenstown,
growing in damp peaty ground on Hekatberg, 7000 ft. Van Balen in National
Herbarium, No. 7642.
This handsome species of Moraea was first collected by
Air. A. D. D. Mogg, M.A., in East Griqualand, and flowered in
Pretoria in 1919. It was more recently collected by Mr. J. C.
van Balen, Gardener-in-charge of the Union Buildings Gardens,
who flowered it in June 1928. The flower of M. Balenii
resembles that of M. spathacea, Ker, but the leaves are nar-
rower and strongly convolute, long and whip-like. The stem
is also shorter than in M. spathacea. Some species of Moraea
have an economic importance in South Africa, as they are the
cause of the so-called “ tulp ” poisoning, which is responsible
for the death of large numbers of stock annually. Feeding
tests have proved some species to be very toxic, quantities
varying from 4 to 8 ounces having been known to kill oxen.
We publish in this Part also a species of Ho?neria ( H . Cookii,
L. Bolus) belonging to a genus closely related to Moraea, but
differing in having the stigmatic papillae round the edges of
the style-branches, instead of at the base of the style crests.
Description : — Corm covered with tunics which split up
into long bristles. Leaves usually 2, up to 1*5 m. long, 1 cm.
broad, concave on the inner face. Perianth-segments dis-
similar; outer 6 cm. long, 2-5 cm. broad above, obovate,
obtuse, narrowed and concave in the lower half and a deeper
yellow and streaked with brown (Strontian yellow, R.C.S. ,
PI. xvi) ; inner 4-2 cm. long, 1 cm. broad, oblong or oblong-
obovate, obtuse, narrowed into a channelled claw. Filaments
7 mm. long, narrowing from the base upwards ; anthers 1-2 cm.
long, linear. Ovary 2-5 cm. long, about 4 mm. in diameter,
bluntly 3-angled; styles 3-2 cm. long, 7 mm. broad, deeply
2-fid, with a ridge on the inner face. (National Herbarium
Pretoria, No. 7642.)
Plate 301. — Fig. 1, outer perianth-segment; Fig. 2, inner perianth-
segment ; Fig. 3, portion of ovary ; Fig. 4, portion of style with stigmas
showing anthers, stigmatic surface (s.s.), and style-crests (s.c.).
F.P.S.A., 1928.
302.
M.M.Page del.
Plate 302.
BONATEA cassidea.
Cape Province.
MARY GUNN LIBRARY
]
Orchid aceae. Tribe Ophrydeae.
Bonatea, Willdenow, Sp. Pl. iv. 43.
Bonatea cassidea, Sonder in Linnaea, vol. xix. p. 81.
The genus, Bonatea, is entirely African and consists of about
19 species, of which * 8 (if B. polypodantha is included) occur in
extra-tropical South Africa. These are natives of the Eastern
Province, Natal, and Transvaal, except the more widely
distributed B. speciosa, the type of the genus, which, also
found in the Transvaal, extends along the coast-belt from
Durban southwards and westwards, straggling on to the Cape
Peninsula and Darling, where one or two collections have been
recorded. They are all glabrous terrestrial herbs with several
tubers and a leafy stem ending in a raceme, and ranging from
6 inches to 3 feet in height, the taller ones being among the
most robust of our orchids. More or less shade-loving, we
find them looking very cool and fresh, their leaves well
developed and of a luscious green, flowers with green sepals
and white petals. The latter are divided almost to the base,
and the back division adheres to the hood-shaped sepal,
making, as it were, a white border to the hood, which only
separates as the flower withers. The front division is broader
and unites with the lip in making a petal-display. The spur,
varying in length from about 1 to If inches, is slender and
pendulous. A small “ peg ” or callus is placed just in front of
* Some authorities unite Bonatea with its close ally Habenaria, a genus
of more than 500 species widely distributed over the world and represented
by some 40 species in South Africa. Others, however, consider the large
rostellum with its concave middle lobe a distinguishing character of sufficient
importance to warrant generic separation. Habenaria polypodantha,
Reichb. f., has the large rostellum characteristic of Bonatea, and I therefore
propose the new combination Bonatea polypodantha (= H. polypodantha,
Reichb.).
the opening, as if to necessitate an entrance to the spur from
each side, rather than directly from the middle. In side view
the rostellum resembles the anther in general outline ; but it is
always larger and the middle lobe separate from the latter,
where not, as in Habenaria, pressed close up against it.
Our present species is among the more slender ones in the
genus, with flowers among the smallest. It appears to be not
uncommon, and has been recorded from the Uitenhage,
Bathurst, Bedford, Stockenstroom, and East London Divisions,
as well as from the Transkei. Our Plate represents a living
specimen collected by Dr. G. Rattray near East London
in October 1917. (Bolus Herbarium, No. 18812.)
Description : — Plant erect, slender, glabrous, 32 cm. high.
Tubers 3 or more, subobovate or cylindrical, up to 7 cm. long.
Leaves 8, erect or ascending, sheathing and the lower sheaths
completely enclosing the intemodes, up to 20 cm. long, 1-5 cm.
wide, the two uppermost rather suddenly reduced in length,
ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, the internodes partly
exposed. Raceme rather densely 12-flowered, flowers ascend-
ing. Bracts herbaceous, acuminate, the lower ones reaching
beyond the ovary. Pedicels 5 to 7 mm. long. Sepals directed
forward or decurved, broadly semi-ovate, apiculate, up to
1-4 cm. long; odd sepal erect, hooded, up to 1*3 cm. long.
Petals divided almost to the base ; the anterior lobe more or
less spreading, subspathulate, usually oblique at the apex, up
to 1-6 cm. long, the posterior lobe adhering to the hood, linear,
acuminate, up to 1-3 cm. long. Lip up to 1*7 cm. long with the
callus in front of the spur, opening very small, 3-fid; side-
lobes obliquely obovate-oblong, 1-2 cm. long; intermediate
lobe a little shorter, narrow-linear ; spur pendulous and usually
curving forward, obtuse, sometimes a little dilated towards the
apex, 2-5 cm. long. Anther almost erect, 4 mm. long. Rostellum
a little longer than the anther, minutely ciliate ; middle lobe
obtuse, about 1-5 mm. long; gland-bearing lobes erect, 1 mm.
long. Stigmas spathulate, 4 to 5 mm. long. (L. Bolus.)
Plate 302. — Fig. 1, side sepal; Fig. 2, odd sepal — x2; Fig. 3, petal;
Fig. 4, lip — nat. size ; Fig. 5, flower, sepals and petals removed, side view —
x2; Fig. 6, column, side view — x4; Fig. 7, pollinium — x2.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
303.
Plate 303.
ALOE LAXIFLORA.
Cape Province.
Liliaceae. Tribe Aloineae.
Aloe, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 776.
Aloe laxiflora, N.E. Br. Gard. Chron. vol. xxxix. p. 130.
This Aloe was first collected near Port Elizabeth in 1897
by Mr. F. G. Griffiths, who sent living material to Kew,
where it flowered in 1902 and was later (in 1906) described by
Mr. N. E. Brown. Aloe laxiflora belongs to a group of ten
species, all of which are characterized by the leaves being laxly
disposed on an elongated stem and not being spotted. They
form the group Laxifoliae of the Flora Capensis. Our plant
differs from its nearest allies A. tenuior, A. ciliaris, and A.
striatula in the very lax arrangement of the flowers, which are
pendulous. We are indebted for the specimen figured to
Mr. J. R. Long, the Beach Manager of Port Elizabeth, who
collected it in April 1928.
Description : — Stem erect, closely leafy. Leaves 10 to
20 cm. long, 1*5 cm. broad, linear-lanceolate, long-acuminate,
sheathing at the base, with small white teeth on the margins.
Peduncle opposite the leaves and growing out of the leaf-sheath,
forked, terete, smooth. Racemes lax; bracts 5 mm. long,
lanceolate, acuminate; pedicels 6 mm. long, terete; flowers
at length pendulous. Perianth scarlet, yellow towards the tip,
4 cm. long; tube 2*5 cm. long; lobes 1*5 cm. long. Stamens
included; filaments yellow, unequal, 4 long and slender,
2 somewhat shorter and stouter, bearing larger anthers.
Ovary 6-ribbed ; style yellowish, about as long as the stamens.
(National Herbarium, Pretoria, No. 7646.)
Plate 303. — Fig. 1, median longitudinal section of a flower.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
:uh.
7
M-M.Pa^e del.
Plate 304.
EULOPHIA CALANTHOIDES.
Natal, Orange Free State, Transvaal.
Orchid aceae. Tribe Vandeae.
Eulophia, R. Brown ex Bindley in Bot. Reg. sub t. 686 (1823).
Eulophia calanth.oi.des, SchlecJiter in Engl. Jalnrb. xx. Beibl. 50, p. 1.
In the South African Eulophiae the lip is far more variable
than the petals and sepals, and therefore affords good char-
acters for distinguishing species. To begin with, there is the
length of the spur. Then follow the general outline of the
blade, the extent to which the side-lobes are developed, and
the shape of the middle lobe, together with the extent and
character of its cresting. In two or three species we find an
additional character in the presence of a sac or pouch, lined
with minute hairs, situated in the uppermost third part of the
blade. From the outside this sac looks like a swelling or
gibbosity. Its function has not been determined as far as I am
aware; but it is interesting to note that when the lip is in
position the sac is about at the same level as the anther, and it
may therefore be connected with the pollination-mechanism
of the flower. Eulophia calanthoides was based on Wood,
4626, and there has been some difference of opinion among
authorities regarding the limits of the species. In the Flora
Capensis, E. acuminata and E. Allisonii, formerly included in
E. calanthoides, have been separated as distinct species. They
are all three very closely allied, have the side lobes of the lip
scarcely developed, and are devoid of cresting on the middle
lobe of the lip. Our Plate was prepared from a living specimen
sent from Natal by Dr. P. A. van der Bijl in December 1918.
Description : — Plant 50 cm. high. Rhizome with
thickened divisions up to 3 cm. diam. Leaves synanthous,
several, the longest overtopping the inflorescence, up to
60 cm. long, 2-5 cm. broad (up to 6 cm. broad in the type-
specimens). Raceme about 30 cm. long, very laxly many-
flowered; flowers ascending. Bracts linear or linear-lance-
olate, acuminate, 3 to 1-2 cm. long. Pedicel up to 8 mm. long.
Sepals spreading, linear, acuminate, 3-3 cm. long, 6 mm.
broad. Petals ovate-oblong, acute, 3-3 cm. long, 1*4 cm.
broad. Spur 6 mm. long, obtuse; lip inferior in mature
flower, with the spur 3-3 cm. long, up to 1-6 cm. broad, the
blade elliptical in outline, furnished with a sac, 3 to 5 thickened
veins extending from sac to spur ; side lobes not, or scarcely
developed; middle lobe subovate, obtuse, without a crest.
Column somewhat fiddle-shaped, projecting into a short foot,
8 mm. long. Anther suborbicular, shortly beaked in front.
Stigma transversely elliptical. (L. Bolus.)
Plate 304. — Fig. 1, sepal ; Fig. 2, petal ; Fig. 3, lip, flattened ; Fig. 4, do.,
side view ; Fig. 5, column and lip, side view — natural size ; Fig. 6, column,
front view — x 4 ; Fig. 7, do. side view — x 3.
F P.S.A., 1928.
305
C.Letty deJ.
Plate 305.
VIRGILIA capensis.
Cape Province.
Leguminosae. Tribe Sophoreae.
Virgilia, Lam. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. i. p. 554.
Virgilia capensis, Lam. III. t. 326, f. 2 ; FI. Cap. vol. ii. p. 266.
The plant figured on the accompanying Plate is the well-
known Keurboom which is found abundantly in the south-
eastern districts of the Cape Province, but also extends into the
south-western districts. It does not occur as an indigenous
tree east of Port Elizabeth. In the George-Knysna-Humans-
dorp region the Keurboom is a characteristic feature of the
margins of the forests. In the practice of sylviculture,
Virgilia capensis is of importance, as it is a stage in the
succession to forest. Timber suitable for spars, yokes and
waggon bed-plants is obtained from it. For a more detailed
account of this tree, the reader is referred to a paper by
Dr. J. F. V. Phillips in the South African Journal of Science,
vol. xxiii. pp. 435-454.
The specimens from which our Plate was prepared were
obtained from a small tree cultivated in the grounds of the
Division of Botany, Pretoria. The generic name Virgilia
is in honour of the poet Virgil.
Description : — A tall shrub or small tree. Branchlets
striate, minutely pubescent. Leaves simply imparipinnate,
shortly petioled, wHh seven pairs of leaflets ; rhachis channelled
on the upper side ; pinnae opposite, varying from 1 to 2-5 cm.
long up the rhachis, 6 to 8 mm. broad, oblong or oblong-
elliptic, rounded at the apex, with the mid-rib prominent
beneath, glabrous above, pubescent beneath especially on the
mid-rib ; terminal leaflet sensibly stalked and slightly larger
than the lateral. Racemes lateral, 3- to many-flowered,
6 to 12 cm. long. Flowers petioled, magenta ( R.C.S. , PI.
xxvi), becoming paler with age, strongly beaked in the bud.
Bracts 5 mm. long, lanceolate, acuminate, strongly keeled,
pubescent, soon deciduous. Pedicels 1*5 to 2 cm. long, terete,
pubescent. Calyx brown, 9 mm. long, 6 mm. in diameter,
2-lipped, with the upper lip 3-toothed and the lower 2-toothed,
pubescent. Vexillum 2 mm. broad, shortly clawed, very
strongly reflexed; claw deeply channelled and pubescent.
Alae 1-5 cm. long, 1-3 cm. broad, clawed, rounded on one
margin, almost straight on the other ; claw almost horseshoe-
shaped. Keel beaked, clawed. Filaments villous. Ovary
shortly stalked, oblong in outline, villous; style arcuate;
stigma minute.
Plate 305. — Fig. 1, young inflorescence showing bracts; Fig. 2, calyx;
Fig. 3, vexillum; Fig. 4, one of wings; Fig. 5, keel; Fig. 6, stamens and
style ; Fig. 7, a single stamen ; Fig. 8, gynaecium.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
Plate 306.
HOMERIA cookii.
Cape Province.
Iridaceae. Sub-Order Moraceae.
Homeria, Ventenat, Dec. Gen. Nov. 5 (1808) ; Benth. et HooJc. f. Gen. Plant.
vol. iii. p. 692.
Homeria Cookii, L. Bolus, sp. nov. H. pallido affinis, sed valvis spathae
inaequilongis, perianthii segmentis parte superiore subtriangularibus,
cristis stigmatis longioribus angustioribusque differt.
Planta glabra, 37 cm. alta. Folium productum unicum, 69 cm. longum,
manu explanatum ad 2-4 cm. latum ; folium caulinum unicum spathiforme,
ut videtur tres cymas inclaudens, 8 cm. longum, cum vagina 3-5 cm. longa,
superne membranaceum. Spathae valvae setaceo-acuminatae berbaceae,
apice tantum membranaceae, exteriores ad 6 cm., interiores 9 cm., longae.
Cymae ad 6-florae. Perianthii segmenta suboblonga, supra medium latissima,
deinde subtriangularia, acuta, viridi-lutea, basin versus aureo-notata
minuteque atrato-maculata, cum ungue 1-2 mm. longo 3-2 cm. longa, ad
1-3 cm. lata, interiora parum breviora, infeme cuneata. Antherae 6-7 mm.
longae. Stigmatis cristae elongatae, decurvatae, deinde erectae, lineares,
acutae, rubro-aurantiacae, 5 mm. longae. Ovarium 1 cm. longum, 1-5 mm.
diam.
Homeria has not received the attention it demands from
the systematise and until recently it has been studied chiefly
from dried material, where, owing to the fugacious nature of the
perianth and stigmas, floral characters have scarcely been
used. Avoided as they are by grazing animals on account of
their poisonous qualities, we find our “ tulps ” growing like
weeds, so that South Africans are fortunate in having abundant
material for investigation. The late Dr. F. Purcell devoted
some considerable time to observations on two or three of the
species which occur on the Cape Peninsula ; and Miss Page has
made a series of drawings which serve to show important
variations in the shape of the stigma and its crests. One
of these drawings is reproduced here, the original being a plant
collected by Mr. F. J. Cook in Concordia Valley, Montagu
Division, in October 1922.
Our species is closely allied to H. pallida, Baker, and may
be distinguished by the outer spathe-valve being much
shorter than the inner one, the upper part of the perianth-
segments somewhat triangular, and the stigma-crests longer
and narrower. The style-branches play a far more con-
spicuous part in the flower than is usual in the genus.
Description : — Plant glabrous, 37 cm. high. Leaf one
only fully developed, 69 cm. long, up to 2-4 cm. broad when
flattened; cauline leaf one, spathe-like and appearing to
enclose 3 cymes, 8 cm. long together with the 3-5 cm. long
sheath, membranous in the upper portion. Spathe-valves
setaceo-acuminate, herbaceous except for the membranous
apex, exterior ones up to 6 cm. long, interior up to 9 cm. long.
Cymes up to 6-flowered. Perianth-segments sub-oblong, widest
above the middle, with the apical portion somewhat triangular,
acute, greenish-yellow, marked with golden yellow and
minute black dots near the base, with claw 3-2 cm. long, up to
T3 cm. broad, the inner segments a little shorter, cuncate
towards the base ; claw 1 to 2 mm. long. Anthers 6 to 7 mm.
long. Stigma crests elongate, decurved, then curved upwards,
linear acute, reddish orange, 5 mm. long. Ovary 1 cm. long,
1*5 mm. in diameter. (L. Bolus.)
Plate 306. — Fig. 1, anther; Fig. 2, style-branch, from above ; Fig. 3, do.,
from below ; Fig. 4, do., the crests flattened — x 2 ; Fig. 5, stigma, from above ;
Fig. 6, do., from below — enlarged.
Homeria Schlecliteri, L. Bolus. Planta glabra, ad 26 cm. alta.
Vaginae barnles 2, tenuiter membranaceae, ad 10 cm. longae. Caulis
7-nodus. Folia producta 4, subensiformia, marginibus nervisque incon-
spicuis, 10-24 cm. longa, ad 1-8 cm. lata, superiora 5 cymas pedunculatas
inclaudentia, 6-3-5 cm. longa, suprema 3 spathiformia. Spathae valvae
herbaceae acuminatae, exterior ad 2-7 cm., interior ad 5 cm., longa.
Cymae 3-4-fl. Perianthium luteum, segmentis 1-5 cm. longis, non bene
visis. Columna staminalis 5 mm. longa. Stigmatis cristae elongatae.
Capsula ad 1-1 cm. longa, 4 mm. diam., seminibus atratobrunneis.
Cape Province: Little Namaqualand; Concordia, in collibus, alt.
930 met., fl. Sept. 1897, E. Schlechter, 11329. Ookiep, in arenosis, fructu
Oct. 1926, Pillans, 4953.
Homeria Rogersii, L. Bolus. Planta glabra, gracilis, ad 30 cm. alta.
Cormus 6 mm. diam., tunicis exterioribus subspongiosis. Folium productum
unicum, basale, tereti-involutum, vix 1 mm. diam. ad 51 cm. longum; folia
caulina 4-5, arte amplectentia, membranacea bracteiformiaque, 6-5-2-S cm.
longa, suprema 2 inclaudentia 1-2 cymas. Spathae valvae exteriores fere
omnino membranaceae, setaceo-acuminatae, 1 -2-2-4 cm. longae, interiores
fere omnino herbaceae, 2-3 cm. longae. Perianthii segmenta obtusa, violacea,
1-2 cm. longa, non bene visa. Tubum staminale cum antheris 4-5 mm.
longum ; antherae in stigmata incurvatae, vix 2 mm. longae. Stigmata
1-5 mm. longa, cristis nullis vel subnullis. Ovarium 2-3 mm. longum.
Capsula immatura globose obovata, 6 mm. longa.
Cape Province : Colesburg Div., Naauwpoort, alt. 1500 met., fl. Oct. 1913,
F. A. Rogers, 12078. Richmond Div., Vlakplaats, fl. Oct. 1914, H. H. Bolus.
(Bolus Herbarium, No. 13835.)
F.P.S.A., 1928.
307
M.M.Pa^e del.
Plate 307.
EULOPHIA PURPURASCENS.
Cape Province, Natal.
Orchidaceae. Tribe Vajstdeae.
Etjlophia, R. Brown ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 535.
Eulophia purpurascens, Rolfe in Kew Bull., 1910, p. 281.
This species belongs to the Eastern Districts, ranging from
Natal southwards to the Uitenhage Division. The plant
depicted was sent from Natal, without precise locality, by
Dr. P. A. van der Bijl in November 1918. Its flowers are
among the medium-sized in the genus, and the spur is pro-
portionately one of the longest. These characters together
with the several long leaves fully developed at the time of
flowering, and the stem entirely enclosed in sheathing reduced
leaves, distinguish this species from all the rest of the Eulophiae
except the closely allied E. gladioloides. In spite of the
different shape of the middle lobe of the lip, I believe this plant
and the one figured in the leones Ordiidearum, vol. iii. t. 12, to
be the same species. The latter was named E. barbata,
Spreng., by Dr. Bolus, and the determination was confirmed
later by Dr. Schlechter. Mr. Rolfe, disagreeing with this,
created a new species, and for the present at least it seems more
convenient to follow his interpretation as given in the Flora
Capensis.
Description : — Plant 42 cm. high. Rhizome with its
thickened divisions about 1*5 cm. in diameter. Leaves
synanthous, 2 lowest sheathing, 3 to 4 produced, linear, acute,
up to 32 cm. long, 7 mm. broad. Stem enclosed beyond the
middle by 6 imbricate, acuminate, somewhat membranous,
brownish, sheathing reduced leaves, the uppermost amplexi-
caul and bract-like. Raceme 8- to 9-flowered, flowers ascending.
Bracts oblong-lanceolate or ovate, acuminate, 7 to 12 mm. long.
Sepals spreading or erect-recurved, linear, slightly widened up-
wards, apiculate, 1 -3 cm. long, up to 4 mm. broad. Peta/soblong-
ovate obtuse, 1 -1 cm. long, up to 6 mm. broad. Lip inferior in
the mature flower, with the spur 1 5 cm. long ; blade exactly
oblong in outline, 3-lobed from slightly below the middle;
side-lobes subovate, about 2 mm. long; intermediate lobes
obovate-orbicular, crested for the greater part with prominent
whitish and purple tubercles; spur 4 mm. long, obtuse.
Column linear, slightly widened near the base and apex.
Anther suborbicular. Stigma transversely elliptical.
(L. Bolus.)
Plate 307. — Fig. 1, sepal; Fig. 2, petal — x2; Fig. 3, lip, flattened —
X4; Fig. 4, lip, side view — x2£; Fig. 5, lip and column, side view ; Fig. G,
column, front view — x3.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
308.
CZetty del.
Plate 308.
DISPERIS FANNINIAE.
Cape Province, Orange Free State, Natal, Transvaal.
Orchid ace ae. Tribe Ophrydeae.
Disperis, Sw. ; Benth. et Hook, f . Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 633.
Disperis Fanniniae, Harv. Thes. Cap. ii. 46. t. 171 ; Bolus. Orch. S. Afr.,
vol. iii. pi. 92 ; FI. Cap. vol. v. sect. iii. p. 310.
Disperis Fanniniae has a very similar distribution in
South Africa to that of D. Tysonii, which we figured on Plate
236. The range is probably also the same as the species has
been recorded from the Drakensbergen. Dr. Harvey in 1863
first described and figured the species from a specimen and a
coloured drawing sent to him by Mrs. George Fannin of
Dargle Farm near Dargle Road, Natal. In 1896 the late
Dr. Harry Bolus prepared a coloured plate from living
specimens collected near Engcobo and which was eventually
published in the Orchids of South Africa. We are indebted to
Mr. F. Stone of Laapsche Hoop, Eastern Transvaal, for the
specimens we figured. Mr. Stone states that the specimens
were growing in leaf loam in the shade of other plants.
Description : — Stem simple, slender, 16 to 30 cm. high.
Leaves cauline, about 3 to a stem, 4 to 8 cm. long, 1 to 2-5 cm.
broad, cordate-ovate, long acuminate, amplexicaule at the
base, slightly crenate on the margins, glabrous. Bracts
leaf-like in shape and texture, 1 to 4 cm. long. Flowers
1 to 4, usually 2, to a stem. Dorsal sepal galeate, forming a
hood 1 to 2 cm. deep ; lateral sepals spreading, 1 *5 cm. long,
acuminate, with a short dorsal spur about the middle. Petals
cohering with the dorsal sepal forming the hood, spotted with
purple, with two greenish lobes on the outer margins; lip
linear, sharply bent above the rostellum, somewhat dilated
about the middle, then ascending, acute, with the tip usually
green. Column short ; rostellum very broad, reflexed, 2-lobed,
petaloid, with cartilaginous arms. Glands of the pollinia
about 3 mm. long; caudicle about 2 mm. long; pollinia
globose, with large granules. (National Herbarium Pretoria,
No. 7606.)
Plate 308. — Fig. 1, column, with the 2 lateral sepals attached ; Fig. 2, one
of the pollinia.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
C.Letty del.
Plate 309.
ANTHOLYZA aethiopica.
Cape Province.
Iridaceae. Tribe Ixieae.
antholyza, Linn. ; Benth. et Hoolc.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 710.
Antholyza aethiopica, Linn. ; Sp. PI. ed. 2. i. 54 ; FI. Cap. vol. vi. p. 167.
This is the first opportunity we have had of figuring a species
of this African genus. In South Africa the genus is represented
by about 15 species, while four species are recorded from
tropical Africa. The South African species are almost all
confined to the south-western area of the Cape Province,
one or two species are found in Natal and two are recorded from
the northern spurs of the Drakensbergen in the Transvaal. In
the Flora Capensis a species is noted as from “ near Pretoria,”
but this we do not know. The genus Antholyza is related to
Gladiolus, several species of which have been figured previously,
but can be distinguished from Gladiolus in having the perianth-
tube dilated at the middle. The local name for the species
figured is “ suurknol,” meaning a “ soury fellow,” probably
referring to the hanging lip of the perianth.
Our Plate was prepared from a specimen grown by Dr.
I. B. Pole Evans, C.M.G., at Irene, near Pretoria, from plants
which he gathered at Mossel River, C.P., growing under the
shade of Sideroxylon inerme.
Description : — Corrn depressed, about 2 cm. in diameter,
with brown tunics. Leaves distichous, 30 to 40 cm. long,
2 to 3 cm. broad, ensiform, glabrous. Spike laxly 10-flowered.
Spathe-valves green, with membranous tips, about 1 cm. long,
oblong, rounded or retuse at the apex, or splitting into
membranous points. Perianth scarlet, with deep red markings
in the throat ; tube narrow and twisted at the base, suddenly
dilating into a tube about 2 cm. long ; segments unequal,
the upper 2-5 cm. long, ligulate, clawed, standing forward, the
lower shorter and spreading. Stamens 3, reaching almost to
the tip of the upper perianth-segment, arcuate; filaments
scarlet; anthers deep scarlet, sagittate at the base. Style
filiform, as long as the upper perianth-segment; branches 3,
scarlet. (National Herbarium Pretoria.)
Plate 309. — Fig. 1, median longitudinal section of flower.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
310
AM TujSwell del.
B
jf
MM.Pa£e del.
Plate 310.
A. Holothrix Thodei. B. Holothrix confusa.
Cape Province, Orange Free State.
Orchid aceae. Tribe Ophrydeae.
Holothrix, L. C. Rich, in M6m. Mus. Paris, iv. p. 55 (1818).
A. Holothrix Thodei, Rolfe in Flor. Cap. v. § 3, p. 100.
B. Holothrix confusa, Rolfe in Flor. Cap. v. § 3, p. 105.
To Holothrix, pre-eminently, belongs the distinction of
possessing the smallest flowers to be found among South
African orchids. In H. Mundii, for example, they are barely
2 mm. long. Yet the structure of this insignificant flower
conforms no less than that of the large Disa uniflora to the
essentials of a typical orchid; and one marvels to find so
diminutive a lip elaborated into a blade with five lobes, and
into a well-developed spur. One of the species portrayed here,
H. confusa, has flowers twice the size of those of this lilliputian
orchid. Like H. Mundii and the five other species with which
it forms a subdivision, H. confusa has a white lip and petals,
thus contrasting with the much larger subdivision containing
H. Thodei, which is characterized by having the lip and petals
green or greenish. Throughout the genus the sepals are her-
baceous. In some of the species there are two distinct glands.
With its twenty-five South African species out of a total
of about forty-one, Holothrix is found in all the Provinces of the
Union, penetrating to the Karroo and to Namaqualand, where
two species occur, and reaching to mountain-summits of 7500
to 9000 feet in altitude. They are all slender terrestrial herbs
with two tubers, one or two ovate or orbicular leaves pressed
close to the ground, sometimes shrivelled before the flowers
are developed, and usually with no reduced leaves on the stem. ,
One or two of our species are nearly glabrous ; but with these
exceptions the rule is for the stem at least to be copiously
hairy, and glabrous leaves are less frequent than pubescent ones.
The prevalence of an indumentum in the genus perhaps accounts
for its name, which is derived from the Greek holo = whole,
thrix = hair, and which might be translated as entirely hairy.
Only one record is available of H. Thodei, namely that
from type-locality, on the summit of Quaqua Mountains,
Witzies Hoek, in the Orange Free State. The specimen figured
here was sent by Mr. A. G. McLoughlin in February 1914
from Griqualand East : no other details have been preserved.
H. confusa has been recorded from the Clanwilliam and
Worcester Divisions, and the plant represented here was
collected at Karroo Poort in the Ceres Division in July 1919 by
Dr. R. Marloth. (Bolus Herbarium, No. 16336.)
Description : — A. Holothrix Thodei, Rolfe. Plant 23 cm.
high. Tubers ovoid-oblong, P8 cm. long. Leaves not seen,
apparently shrivelling before the flowers develop. Stem with no
reduced leaves, pilose with long spreading hairs. Raceme rather
densely many-flowered, flowers spreading. Pedicels very short.
Bracts broadly ovate-acuminate, pilose. Sepals united in the
lower half, ovate, acute, about 2 mm. long. Lip 3 to 4 mm. long,
blade deeply 3-lobed, lobes obtuse, the middle one more than
twice longer than the side ones ; spur conical. Gland solitary.
Description: — B. Holothrix confusa, Rolfe. Plant 5*5 cm.
high. Tubers ovoid, tomentose, up to 1*4 cm. long. Leaves
2, the lower reniform, the upper suborbicular, glabrous, rather
fleshy, up to 2 cm. in diameter. Stem with no reduced leaves,
pilose with white spreading or deflexed hairs. Raceme laxly
5-flowered, flowers spreading. Bracts ciliate with pellucid
hairs, ovate-oblong, cuspidate, 4 mm. long. Pedicel very short.
Ovary with deflexed pellucid hairs on the ribs. Sepals obliquely
ovate, 3-5 mm. long ; odd sepal oblong. Petals entire, obovate-
oblong in outline, slightly oblique, the upper portion indexed
and with the odd sepal somewhat forming a hood, purplish
within, nearly 5 mm. long. Lip 9 mm. long; blade about 6
mm. long, sparsely papillate on the palate, 5-lobed from about
the middle; lobes obtuse, the two outermost about half as
long as the rest ; spur obtuse, curved inwards. Anther obtuse,
purple, nearly 2 mm. long; glands 2, subovate. (L. Bolus.)
Plate 310 A. — Fig. 1, flower, front view; Fig, 2, do., side view; Fig. 3,
sepals, united ; Fig. 4, petal ; Fig. 5, lip, flattened ; Fig. 6, do., side view ;
Fig. 7, pollinia with solitary gland — variously magnified.
Plate 310 B. — Fig. 1, bract; Fig. 2, flower, front view — x5; Fig. 3,
flower, side view — x4; Fig. 4, side sepal; Fig. 5, odd sepal; Fig. 6, petal;
Fig. 7, lip, flattened ; Fig. 8, column and lip, side view — x 5 ; Fig. 9, column,
showing stigma below the anther, dotted ; Fig. 10, do., with the flaps of the
column spread out, and the slits of the anther lobes widened to expose
pollinia and the minute rostellum; Fig. 11, column, side view; Fig. 12,
pollinium with gland — X 10.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
C. Letty d el.
Plate 311.
LEUCOSPERMUM glabrum.
Cape Province.
Peoteaceae. Tribe Peoteae.
Leucospeemum, R. Br. ; Benth. et Hook.f. vol. iii. p. 170.
Leucospermum glabrum, Phillips in Kew Bull. 1910, p. 331 ; FI. Gap.
vol. v. sect. 1, p. 617.
We are fortunate in being able to figure another of the
more or less rare species of the South African Proteaceae. On
Plate 74 we figured one of the more common species ( L .
tottum) and on Plate 95 a species described since the publication
of the Flora Capensis ( L . cordatum). The species of the genus,
of which over 30 occur in South Africa, are mostly massed in
the south-western area of the Cape Province, though one
species, L. cartilagineum , Phill., is found in Little Namaqua-
land and another, L. attenuatum, R.Br., is distributed from
Bredasdorp through the eastern districts into Swaziland, the
northern Transvaal, Rhodesia, and Gazaland. Leucospermum
glabrum appears to be confined to the districts of George and
Knysna. It was collected in these districts by Burchell and
Bowie over 100 years ago. Archdeacon Rogers records the
species from “ between Cape Town and George,” while Mr.
J. D. Keet collected it near Knysna in October 1922. We are
indebted to a valuable correspondent, Mr. L. M. Kapp of the
District Forest Office, Concordia, near Knysna, for the
specimen figured on the accompanying Plate.
Description : — A bush. Branches puberulous, at length
becoming glabrous. Leaves under and surrounding the
inflorescence narrower than those lower down the branches;
lower leaves 7-5 cm. long, 3*3 to 4-3 cm. broad, obovate,
rounded and 7 to 10-toothed at the apex, narrowed towards
the base, glabrous ; upper leaves 4 to 8 cm. long, 1*5 to 2-3 cm.
broad, more or less oblong, usually 5-toothed, glabrous. Head
when fully opened 8 cm. in diameter, 8 cm. long (including the
styles). Bracts at base of head ovate, acuminate, with the
acuminate portion strongly reflexed, densely villous without
on the lower half. Perianth-tube 1 cm. long, almost glabrous ;
segments 3 cm. long, pubescent and long-ciliate ; limb 7 mm.
long, finely tomentose without and also with long hairs.
Style 6 cm. long, terete, gradually narrowing upwards,
glabrous; stigma ovoid. (National Herbarium Pretoria.)
Plate 311. — Fig. 1, leaf from lower part of branch; Fig. 2, receptacle
(longitudinal section) ; Fig. 3, bract (back view) ; Fig. 4, bract (front view) ;
Fig. 5, a single flower; Fig. 6, portion of perianth showing insertion of
stamens ; Fig. 7, a single stamen.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
312.
M.M/Pa|e del.
Plate 312.
CORYCIUM TRICUSPIDATUM.
Cape Province, Natal.
Orchid aceae. Tribe Ophrydeae.
Corycium, Swartz in Vet. Acad. Nya Handl. Stockh. xxi. (1800) 220.
Corycium tricuspidatum, Bolus in Journ. Linn. Soc. xxv. p. 176.
At some time or other all the 14 species of Corycium
enumerated in the Flora Capensis have been placed under
Pterygodium by Reichenbach, Lindley, Sonder, Bolus, and
Schlechter. Both genera were founded by Swartz in 1800
and were probably published at the same time, the latter
being a few pages earlier than the former. Glancing through
the synonomy, it is evident that orchidologists have found it
difficult to decide the limits of the two genera. Those who
are familiar with the very common yellow “ moeder-kappie ”
(P. catholicum ) know how wide open the kappie, or hood, is,
and how markedly the two side-sepals diverge. In typical
Corycium the flowers have a greater depth than width and the
hood is nearly closed, leaving a small opening which in certain
positions of the flower appears to be divided and looks like two
eyes ; and the two side-sepals are usually united in their lower
part, or sometimes throughout their whole length, forming
one organ. On these grounds Swartz and Rolfe have separated
the genera. There scarcely seems any justification, however,
for transferring P. magnum, Richb. f. to Corycium as Rolfe
has done in the Flora Capensis. As far as my experience goes
the two genera behave differently when dried in the ordinary
way for herbarium use. Corycium turning black very
rapidly, while Pterygodium remains a faded yellow.
Both genera are confined to extra-tropical South Africa —
East and West — and one species ( C . crispum) has the rare
distinction among orchids of being found in Namaqualand.
All are terrestrial herbs with 2 tubers, a leafy stem, and
flowers in a dense, or fairly dense, spike, of small or medium
size, and varying in colour from dark purple, mauve, red,
greenish-brown, or brown, to yellow which is the most
frequent. The odd sepal is uppermost in the flower.
Corycium gives its name to a subtribe of the Ophrydeae ,
namely, Corycieae, where the structure of the lip is more
complicated than in the remaining subtribes which include
Holothrix, Habenaria, and Disa. In dissecting, the lip is not
so readily detached from the column, and we find the same
part regarded by some authorities as an appendage of the lip,
and by others as an appendage of the rostellum. The difficulty
will probably not be cleared up until some careful laboratory
investigation is made on the matter.
It is interesting to note that with the present publication
all the species of this genus have now been figured, except the
very rare C. vestitum which is only known from Thun berg’s
collection near Piquetberg and Verlooren Vlei.
The plant figured (chiefly from material preserved in spirit)
was collected by Mr. A. G. McLoughlin in a plain at the foot
of a mountain between Mount Currie and Kokstad, at an
altitude of 4700 feet, in February 1920.
Description : — Plant 35 cm. high. Tubers subcylindrical,
3*5 cm. long. Leaves about 10, passing off gradually into the
bracts, nearly erect, oblong-linear or oblong-ovate, acuminate,
ensheathing the intemodes, 2-5 to 11 cm. long, up to 2 cm.
broad, the main nerves rather prominent. Spike cylindrical,
rather dense, 6-5 cm. long, about 1*5 cm. in diameter, flowers
nearly erect, dull purple and soon turning darker. Bracts
erect, herbaceous, large and over-topping the flowers,
acuminate. Sepals directed forward, completely united and
nearly round, 4 to 5 mm. long, odd sepal oblong, acute.
Petals concave, forming the hood with the odd sepal, about
6 mm. long. Lip 8 to 9 mm. long, with the blade elongated,
linear, ending in three cusps or lobes, the middle one much
smaller than the side ones, the whole margin undulate; the
narrow portion, or claw, uniting the blade and the appendage,
visible and dividing the opening of the hood; appendage
revolute and nearly covering the anther, margin undulate.
Anther with the lobes separated; polliniuin subovate; gland
suborbicular. Stigmas apparently just above the anther-lobes
(Bolus Herbarium, No. 16401). — L. Bolus.
Plate 312. — Fig. 1, flower, front view, Fig. 2, do., side view ; Fig. 3, do.,
back view; Fig. 4, lip and column, front view; Fig. 5, do., back view;
Fig. 6, do., the appendage of the lip flattened — X 5; Fig. 7, united side
sepals; Fig. 8, odd sepal; Fig. 9, petal — x 3; Fig. 10, pollinium, enlarged.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
313.
M.M.Pa|e del.
Plate 313.
EULOPHIA CAFFRA.
Natal , Zululand.
Orchid ace ae. Tribe Vandeae.
Etjlophia, R. Brown [ex Bindley ] in Bot. Reg. t. 686 (1823).
Eulophia caffra, Reichenbach f. in Flora, xlviii. (1865), p. 186.
Writing of Eulophia in the Flora Capensis some fifteen years
ago, Rolfe remarks that “ the South African species have been
much neglected, and have never been the subject of any
complete revision. The flowers are often very membranous
and the fleshy crests and appendages of the lip are changed so
much during the process of drying, and are so difficult to
restore by boiling, while the details of colour are lost, that it
has been very difficult in some cases to define specific limits,
and a study of living specimens would probably necessitate
some rearrangement. The genus is commended to those who
have an opportunity of studying it in the field.” In these
circumstances, for no “ complete revision ” has yet been
published, it is obviously often impossible to reconcile the
description made from a living plant with that made from a
dried one of the same species; and in our experience it has
sometimes become necessary to dry one’s plant before the
identity can be recognized. For example, in the specimen
figured here as E. caffra the side lobes of the lip in the dried
state appear less inconspicuous than they do in the living
flower, where the lip answers rather to the description of that
given for the very closely allied E. circinata, known only from
Komati Poort — unless Culver’s 31 from Umvoti Creek be this
species. The serrulated leaf-margins are noted under E.
circinata but not under E. caffra , which, however, has the
longer sepals and leaves of our plant. Both species are
characterized by having pseudobulbs, found only in three of
the South African Eulophiae. We are indebted to Dr. P. A.
van der Bijl for living material (received in December 1918) of
this and of several other orchids from Natal which, thanks to
his care in packing, reached us in excellent condition for
drawing.
Description : — Plant nearly 1 m. high. Rhizome robust,
up to 2 cm. in diameter, clothed with orbicular or ovate-
orbicular, abruptly acute scale-leaves, up to 1*5 cm. long.
Pseudobulb 6 cm. long, up to 3 cm. in diameter at the base,
tapering slightly upwards, smooth and polished, 3-leaved.
Leaves disarticulating at the base, rather leathery, linear,
acute, plicate, distantly serrulate, up to 44 cm. long and 2 cm.
broad. Stem up to 1-2 cm. in diameter, with a basal sheath
and 6 ovate-orbicular, amplexicaul, reduced leaves, up to 2*8
cm. long ; intemodes up to 20 cm. long. Raceme 32 cm. long,
about 20-flowered ; flowers distant, ascending. Bracts linear-
lanceolate or oblong-ovate, acuminate, 1 to 2-5 cm. long.
Pedicel scarcely distinguishable from the ovary in flower, not
seen in fruit. Sepals spreading, strongly revolute in the upper
portion, linear, acute, apiculate, up to 4 -2 cm. long, 6 mm.
broad ; odd sepal a little shorter. Petals ascending, revolute
in upper portion, linear apiculate, 3 cm. long, up to 9 mm.
broad. Lip, with the 9 mm. long spur, 4-6 cm. long, somewhat
fiddle-shaped when flattened, with undulate margins; side-
lobes scarcely developed ; middle lobe rounded, with 5
conspicuous crests in the upper portion ; spur often globosely
inflated at the apex. Column linear 1*2 cm. long, up to 3 mm.
broad, produced at base into a projecting foot, and at the
apex into a triangular tip projecting beyond the anther.
Anther suborbicular, slightly beaked. Stigma transversely
elliptical. (Bolus Herbarium, No. 15717.) — L. Bolus.
Plate 313. — Fig. 1, side sepal; Fig. 2, petal; Fig. 3, lip, flattened;
Fig. 4, lip, side view, slightly enlarged ; Fig. 5, lip and column, side view — all
are natural size, as are the pseudobulb and leaves, the rhizome, lower portion
of stem (the intermediate portion of the stem is not shown) and inflorescence ;
Fig. 6, column — x 3.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
374.
C.Letty del.
Plate 314.
BUDDLEIA AURICTTLATA VAR. EURYIFOLIA.
Transvaal, Natal.
Loganiaceae. Tribe Euxoganieae.
Buddleia, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. ii. p. 793.
Buddleia auriculata, Benth. var. euryifolia, Prain in Kew. Bull. 1908,
p. 162; FI. Cap. vol. iv. sect. 1, p. 1048.
On Plate 287 we figured a species of Buddleia ( B . salvifolia)
from which the species on the accompanying Plate differs in
the shape of the leaves, the colour of the flower, and the
absence of a ring of hairs within the corolla tube. The
variety euryifolia is found near Barberton and Lydenburg in
the Transvaal, but also occurs in Natal and Griqualand East.
The flowers have the same characteristic scent as B. salvifolia
but not so pungent. The plant is a graceful shrub up to 7 ft.
high with slightly drooping branches. The specimen from
which our Plate was prepared is growing in the garden of the
Division of Botany, Pretoria. The plants were collected by
Mr. J. J. van Nouhuys at Waterval Boorn in the Transvaal,
growing in very moist places between boulders below the
waterfall.
Description : — Shrub up to 3-5 m. high. Branches
minutely albo-tomentose. Leaves opposite, shortly petioled;
blades 4-5 to 8 cm. long, 2 to 4 cm. broad in the widest part,
ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, acute, more or less rounded at
the base, with serrated margins, somewhat rugose and glabrous
above, white-tomentose beneath; petioles 5 to 8 mm. long,
channelled above. Inflorescence cyrnose, in the axils of the
upper leaves or in the leaf-axils of short lateral branches, 3
to 10-flowered. Flowers sub-sessile. Bracts 1 mm. long,
opposite, densely stellate-tomentose. Calyx 2 mm. long,
densely stellate-tomentose; lobes as long as the tube, ovate,
obtuse or sub-acute. Corolla-tube 6*5 mm. long, cylindric,
stellate-pubescent except at the very base; lobes horizontal,
1*5 mm. long, about 1-5 mm. broad, almost orbicular, glabrous.
Stamens inserted on the upper half of the corolla-tube; fila-
ments 0-75 mm. long, as long as the anthers. Ovary 1 mm.
long, ovoid, pubescent, style 1 mm. long, sub-clavate at the
apex.
Plate 314. — Fig. 1, corolla opened; Fig. 2, gynaecium.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
3/5.
Plate 315.
ALOE LONGISTYLA.
Cape Province.
Liliaceae. Tribe Aloineae.
Aloe, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 776.
Aloe longistyla, Baker in Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. xviii. p. 158; FI. Cap.
vol. vi. p. 309.
On Plate 111 we figured A. microcantha belonging to the
group Acaules of the genus. The accompanying plate is
another example of the same group, but differs from the
former in having the filaments and style much longer than the
perianth. A. longistyla occurs sparingly throughout the
south-eastern and central parts of the Cape Province. It is
found near Grahamstown, Somerset East, Laingsburg, Graaff
Reinet and Pearston. The specimen from which our Plate
was prepared was collected by Mr. G. van Son in the Willow-
more district. Mr. van Son states that it grows in quartz
fields or in Karroo soil, always in flat country, and that he had
not observed it on the kopjies.
Description : — A small acaulescent plant 19 cm. high.
Leaves about 20 in a rosette, 7*5 cm. long, 2-5 cm. broad at
the base, lanceolate, acute, whitish in the lowest quarter,
toothed on the margins, with a few scattered white areas on
the face and back and usually with a small prickle from each
area, glabrous. Peduncle about 14 cm. long, 1*3 cm. in
diameter, with a few ovate acuminate bracts. Floral bracts
2*5 cm. long, ovate, long-acuminate. Perianth 4*3 cm. long;
tube 2-5 cm. long ; inner lobes slightly broader than the outer.
Filaments 5 cm. long, exserted, becoming withdrawn into the
perianth in old flowers; anthers 3 mm. long. Ovary 7 mm.
long, ellipsoid ; style 6 mm. long, permanently exserted.
(National Herbarium, Pretoria, No. 7645.)
•' !■ ':t
376.
Plate 316.
DISPERIS Cooperi.
Orange, Free State, Natal.
Okchidaceae. Tribe Ophkydeae.
Dispeeis, Swartz in Vet. Acad. Handl. Stockh. xxi. (1800) 218.
Disperis Cooperi, Harv. in Thes. Cap. ii. p. 47, t. 172.
The spur, pouch, or sac in orchids is always regarded as a
nectary, and is a prolongation either of the lip or of the odd
sepal, except in Disperis where a pouch occurs in the side-
sepals. In this genus the function of the pouch is not con-
nected with the pollination of the flower beyond the purely
mechanical function of protecting one of the glands of the
rostellum — as previously mentioned under D. Tysoni, t. 236.
This protection ensures the gland being well forward and in the
way of the visitor as soon as the side sepals release their hold
on the hood, and, descending to a horizontal position, declare,
as it were, the flower open. For in Disperis no part of the lip
projects forward beyond the column to take part in the petal-
display, as in the allied genus, Corycium ; and the flower,
when the side-sepals spread outwards or backwards, has a
truncate, not to say inhospitable look, with no obvious
alighting-place for the pollinating agent. The lip begins as a
narrow claw which presses close to the column and continues
as an “ appendage ” which may usually be considered in two
parts — the front one upright and showing in the opening of
the hood, and the other part extending backwards and more
or less hidden. The stigmas are situated one on each side of
the claw of the lip.
On the whole Disperis has been fairly well illustrated, there
being twenty out of the thirty-six known species that have been
drawn and reproduced in colour ; but it is to be regretted that
of the twelve species recorded from the Transvaal, only half
have been figured up to the present, which leaves D. ermelensis,
D. concinna, D. gracilis , D. Thorncroftii, D. virginalis, and D.
Nelsonii still awaiting the attention of collectors and artists.
Disperis Cooperi is named after its discoverer, Thomas
Cooper, who found it more than sixty years ago near Nelson’s
Kop on the top of the Drakensberg. The only other record
available is Dr. T. R. Sim’s collection at Hilton Road, near
Pietermaritzburg, in March 1914, from which our Plate was
prepared. This species belongs to the large division of the
genus in which the hood is not narrowed into a decided spur,
and to the subdivision in which the leaves are nearly erect and
their length greater than their width.
Description : — Plant erect, minutely and sparsely pubes-
cent or glabrescent, 37 cm. high. Stem moderately stout,
intemodes exposed. Leaves 5, lowest rudimentary, the rest
acute, amplexicaul, lanceolate or ovate, sparsely ciliolate, 3 to
3-5 cm. long. Raceme rather distichous, 12-5 cm. long, 2-5 to
3 cm. in diameter. Bracts large, deeply concave, somewhat
boat-shaped, 1-3 to 3 cm. long. Sepals spreading or directed
backwards, obliquely ovate, acuminate, the spur about in the
middle ; odd sepal deeply hooded, hood rounded at the back,
1 cm. long and deep. Petals adhering to the hood, shortly
clawed, obliquely oblong-obovate, apiculate, as long as the
sepals. Lip linear in the lower part; anterior lobe of the
appendage convex viewed from the front, concave within,
cordate, green, about 4 mm. long; posterior lobe linear-
lanceolate, subobtuse, about 6 mm. long. Rostellum large,
covering the anther, sides deflexed ; gland-bearing arms knee-
bent downwards, then projecting forwards; glands large,
somewhat fiddle-shaped. (Bolus Herbarium, No. 18813). —
L. Bolus.
Plate 316. — Fig. 1, flower, front view; Fig. 2, column and lip, do.;
Fig. 3, column, tilted forward; Fig. 4, do. oblique side view; Fig. 5, lip,
oblique view ; Fig. 6, do. side view ; Fig. 7, petal ; Fig. 8, side sepal ; Fig. 9,
odd sepal viewed from above; Fig. 10, pollinium — variously magnified.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
377.
C.Letty del.
Plate 317.
IXIA MONADELPHA.
Cape Province.
Ibid ace ae. Tribe Ixieae.
Ixia, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 704.
Ixia monadelpha, Delaroche Descr. PI. Nov. 22; FI. Cap. vol. vi. p. 82.
It is for the first time that we figure a representative of the
endemic Cape genus Ixia which was formerly largely cultivated
in European gardens. Many species were figured over 100
years ago in the botanical literature of that day when the Cape
was being explored for its botanical rarities. In South Africa
the genus Ixia is represented by over 25 species, mostly found
in the south-western districts of the Cape Province, but one or
two in Griqualand East and Natal. The species figured on
the accompanying Plate is found in various coloured forms, a
character noticed in several native species of plants. Our
specimen was collected by Mr. J. van Nouhuys near Graaff-
water in the van Rhynsdorp district.
Description : — Corm 2 cm. in diameter, sub-globose, with
fibrous outer tunics. Produced leaves about 4, up to 37
cm. long, 0*7 to 1-5 cm. broad, linear, acuminate, acute,
with a prominent mid-rib, glabrous. Spike about 8-flowered.
Flowers 4 cm. in diameter, sessile, cadmium orange (R.C.S.
PI. Ill) with a dark throat. Bracts 7 mm. long, almost
hyaline. Perianth-tube 1 -3 cm. long, narrow-cylindric, becom-
ing sub-campanulate above; lobes 2-8 cm. long, 1-5 cm.
broad, elliptic, obtuse. Filaments connate into a tube from the
throat of the perianth, 7 mm. long; anthers 1-2 cm. long,
linear. Ovary 5 mm. long, ellipsoid; style 2 cm. long,
branches 5 mm. long. (National Herbarium, Pretoria,
No. 7863.)
3/8.
C.Letty del.
Plate 318.
CYANOTIS lapidosus.
Transvaal.
Commelenaceae. Tribe Tkadescantieae .
Cyanotis, Don ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 851.
Cyanotis lapidosus, Phillips, sp. nov. C. nodiflorae affinis sed foliis
succulentis habitoque differt.
Planta prostrata. Folia 1-7 cm. longa, 0-6-1 cm. lata, lanceolata, apice
subacuta, basi semi-amplexicaulia, pilosa. Sepala 3, basi connata; lobi
lanceolati, pilosi. Petala 3, connata ; tubus campanulatus ; lobi ovati.
Filamenta barbata. Ovariurn 3-loculare ; stylus apice crassatus. (Phillips,
No. 3449.)
The species of Cyanotis figured was collected by Dr. E. P.
Phillips on the Transvaal Drakensbergen at Kaapsche Hoop
in the Barberton district. It is found growing in the damp
crevices of rocks; the thick compact masses make a pretty
picture, the cobalt-blue staminal hairs contrasting with the
pale pink stamens. It was only after a careful comparison of
living specimens brought back to Pretoria with plants of
C. nodiflora growing in the garden that we decided that
the Kaapsche Hoop plant was specifically distinct from the
common C. nodiflora. In the latter species growing in
the grounds of the Division at Pretoria are plants showing
three distinct forms. Some specimens have the staminal hairs
a bright magenta, in others these hairs are fight pink, while
other individuals have pale blue staminal hairs. In the
colouring of the staminal hairs our plant differs from any of
these forms, but this alone cannot be considered of specific
value. In habit, however, it is distinct, and the leaves are
thick and semi-succulent. We therefore feel justified in
separating it from C. nodiflora.
Description : — A prostrate plant growing in dense masses
in crevices of rocks. Stems succulent, reddish. Leaves semi-
succulent, 1 to 7 cm. long, 0-6 to 1 cm. broad, lanceolate, sub-
acute, clasping at the base, concave and green above, convex
and reddish beneath, pilose especially on the under surface.
Inflorescence cymose. Sepals 3, connate at the base; lobes
lanceolate, pilose. Petals 3, pink, connate to form a cam-
panulate tube ; lobes ovate. Ovary 3-chambered, with 2
ovules in each loculus; style equalling the stamens, some-
what swollen beneath the stigma.
Plate 318. — Fig. 1, single flower; Fig. 2, corolla; Fig. 3, a single
stamen ; Fig. 4, pistil ; Fig. 5, part of a staminal hair — enlarged ; Fig. 6,
cross-section of leaf.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
3/9.
M.M.PaJe del.
Plate 319.
EULOPHIA FRAGRANS.
Transvaal.
Orchidaoeae. Tribe Vandeae.
Etjlophia, R. Brcnvn [ex Bindley ] in Bot. Reg. t. 686 (1823).
Eulophia fragrans, Schlechter in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. xx. Beibl. 50, p. 27.
One record only for this species is given in the Flora
Capensis, namely, the type-locality, near Heidelberg, where it
was collected by McLea in November 1870 ( ?) and by
Schlechter in October 1893. It would appear from this that
the species is either a rare one or that it has been overlooked
because of its resemblance to several other Eulophiae -with
cream-coloured flowers. Collectors are, therefore, requested
to note that the many-flowered raceme is rather short and the
flowers are in consequence somewhat crowded; that the
flowers are fragrant ; that the sepals are almost entirely cream,
or with not more green upon them than there is on the petals ;
that the spur of the lip is short and conical; and that the
column is remarkably long for the genus. The leaves in our
specimen are still immature (the one on the left has been
bent in order to suit the space), and therefore cannot be
regarded as being strictly contemporaneous with the flowers. It
is possible that collectors may often find this species in flower
with just the tips of the leaves showing. The plant figured
was collected by Dr. C. L. Leipoldt, near Pretoria, in November
1917.
Description : — Plant 37 cm. high. Rhizome with the
thickened divisions up to 2 cm. in diameter. Leaves sub-
hysteranthous, about 7 in the fascicle, linear, acuminate, at
time of flowering up to 12 cm. long, 1-5 cm. broad. Stem up
to 6 mm. in diameter, bearing 4 sheathing, acuminate, some-
what membranous reduced leaves, up to 5 cm. long; inter-
nodes exserted up to 3-5 cm. long. Raceme 10 cm. long, rather
densely many-flowered ; flowers spreading. Bracts linear-
lanceolate or ovate-oblong, acuminate, brown, 2-5 to 1*2 cm.
long. Sepals spreading, cream-coloured, linear, gradually
narrowed upwards, acuminate, 2*5 to 3 cm. long, up to 7 mm.
broad. Petals ovate-oblong, acute, 2 to 2*5 cm. long, up to 1-2
cm. broad. Lip superior, broadly oval in outline, with the
3 mm. long conical spur about 2-4 cm. long, 3-lobed from about
the middle; side-lobes rounded, about 2 mm. long; middle
lobe broadly subovate, obtuse, with 4 to 5 crests extending
beyond the middle, and produced as thickened veins towards
the spur. Column 1-3 cm. long, dilated upwards and ending
in an apiculus, produced at the base into a projecting foot.
Anther a little broader than long, shortly rostrate. Stigma
broadly elliptical. (Bolus Herbarium, No. 18814.) — L. Bolus.
Plate 319. — Fig. 1, plant; Fig. 2, sepal; Fig. 3, petal — natural size;
Fig. 4, lip, flattened; Fig. 6, lip and column; Fig. 6, column — x 2.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
320.
C.Letty del.
Plate 320.
STREPTANTHERA cuprea.
Cape Province.
Iridaceae. Tribe Ixieae.
Streptanthera, Sweet ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 703.
Streptanthera cuprea, Sweet, Hort. Brit. ed. ii. 501 ; FI. Cap. vol. vi.
p. 86.
The genus Streptanthera is represented in the Flora
Capensis by two species ; but like other members of the family
Iridaceae, e.g. Ixia monadelpha, described in this volume, the
two described species may only be colour forms of a single
species. Very little appears to be known about the genus, as
there is only a single record of S. elegans by Thorn from the
Tulbagh district, while the species figured here is only known
from an illustration of a specimen which flowered in England
in 1838. The genus Streptanthera is allied to Sparaxis figured
on Plate 60, but differs principally in having equilateral
instead of unilateral stamens. The specimens figured were
grown by and presented to the National Herbarium by Mr.
J. C. van Balen, Gardener-in-Charge of the Union Buildings
Garden.
Description : — Corm 2 cm. in diameter, with a short neck
surrounded by reticulate fibres. Roots thick, fleshy. Leaves
about 10 to a bulb, 9 to 12 cm. long, 0-5 to 1-3 cm. broad,
lanceolate, obtuse, narrowing to the base, closely ribbed,
glabrous. Bracts IT cm. long, 9 mm. broad, oblong, mem-
branous, with brown markings. Perianth bittersweet pink
(R.C.S. PI. II) ; tube 8 mm. long, funnel-shaped; lobes 1-8 cm.
long, 14 cm. broad, elliptic -oblong, rounded above, somewhat
narrowed at the base, with 2 dark spots within just above the
short claw. Filaments IT cm. long, semiterete; anthers 6
mm. long, linear, sagittate at the base. Style 14 cm. long,
terete ; branches 2 mm. long, spathnlate, papillose round the
edges. (National Herbarium, Pretoria, No. 7868.)
Plate 320. — Fig. 1, flower with bract removed; Fig. 2, single perianth -
segment ; Fig. 3, anther ; Fig. 4, style and stigmas.
F.P.S.A., 1928.
INDEX TO VOLUME VIII.
PLATE
Aloe grandidentata 286
Aloe hereroensis var. Orpeniae ...... 281
Aloe laxiflora ......... 303
Aloe longibracteata . 299
Aloe Longistyla 315
ANTHOLYZA A3THIOPICA 309
Begonia Sutherlandii 283
Bonatea cassidea 302
Btjddleia auriculata var. euryifolia 314
Buddlela salvifolia 287
CoRYCIUM TRICUSPID ATUM 312
Cotyledon deoussata 289
Cyanotis lapidosus 318
Disa extinctoria . . . . . . . . .295
Disperis Cooperi ......... 316
Disperis fanniniae . 308
Eulophia caffra ......... 313
Eulophia calanthoides 304
Eulophia fragrans 319
Eulophia parvilabris 300
Eulophia purpurascens ........ 307
Eulophia robusta ......... 293
Euphorbia bubalina ........ 285
Euphorbia trichadenia ........ 288
Euphorbia tuberculata ........ 292
Euryops multifidus ........ 282
Gasteria cabin at a . . . . . . . . .291
Gasterla obtusifolia ........ 284
Habenaria Dregeana 298
Haworthia Bolusii ........ 290
HoLOTHRIX (A) THODEI. (B) CONFUSA ..... 310
Homeria cookii 306
I XI A MONADELPHA ......... 317
Leucospermum glabrum . . . . . . . . 311
Moraea balenii 301
Pleotranthus Galpinii 294
POLYSTACHYA TRANSVAALENSIS 297
Streptanthera cuprea . 320
V IRGILIA CAPENSIS 305
Watsonia flavida 296