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CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOUTH-AFRICAN BOTANY. 171 
Contributions to South-Africafi Botany.—Part III. 
By Harry Bofus, F.L.S. 
[Read 16th June, 1887.] 
CRUCIFER X. 
PALMSTRUCKIA CAPENsIS, Sond. Flor. Cap. i. 35 (Peltaria 
capensis, Thunb. Flor. Cap. (ed. 1823) p. 490).— This species 
has hitherto been known only from a deflorate specimen col- 
lected by Thunberg about the year 1774, and existing in his 
herbarium now preserved at Upsala. No collector appears to 
have met with it since that date, until in 1883 I was fortunate 
enough to find what is doubtless the same species both in flower 
and fruit. I am indebted to the authorities of the Royal Herba- 
rium at Kew for most valuable assistance (in this as in so many 
other instances) in comparing my specimens with Thunberg’s 
type, kindly lent by Prof. Berggren for the purpose; and I 
think it will be useful to students of South-African plants to 
record the results, more especially as the genus is monotypic and 
endemic :—Thunberg’s specimen consists merely of the upper 
part of the stem in ripe fruit (the silique being # in. in dia- 
meter, while those of my specimens are not quite mature), and 
with but three or four leaves uponit. These are all bract-leaves 
at the base of the racemes, and there are no lower ones. They 
are linear-filiform and undivided with the exception of one, wbich 
shows a small tooth on one side and an appearance of an oppo- 
site one, which (owing to the state of the specimen) cannot be 
distinctly seen. So far as the specimen goes, it agrees witb 
my plants ; and it is probable that the lower leaves had fallen as 
maturity approached, and that Thunberg described the leaves from 
the specimen before him as filiform. His specimen was collected 
in the month of November, mine in September. I append a 
description of the latter:— . 
Herbacea, erecta, sparse et minute hispida, 20-40 centim. 
alta; caulis erectus, dichotome ramosus; folia pinnatipartita, 
jugis 1-3 distantibus, lobis linearibus, folia infima 6 em. longa, 
superiora sensim minora, suprema vix divisa ; racemi laxi, fructi- 
feri 10-15 cm. longi, pedicellis gracilibus patentibus apice pen- 
dulis, 1-5 cm. longis ; sepala elliptica, obtusa, concava, margine 
membranacea, 1 millim. longa; petala obovata, 2°5 millim. longa; 
stamina lateralia basi appendiculata; stylus brevis, interdum 
