■^^-y 



^ - -T« i 



v> 



* \ 



1 1 



f^ 1 



^ I 



88 



MK. N. E. BROWN : NEW AKD OLD 



( ■ 



cartilaginous, semitransparent, and more or less tuberciilate-crenate at the-' 

 apex, and minutely pubescent when young, each pair united at the base into 

 a cylindric boJy or sheath 1^-3-^- cm, long and 10-15 mm. thick ; surface 

 glahrous to the eye, but (as in other species of the group) microscopically 

 pubcrulous at the margins and keeled on the apical part, slightly tuberculate 

 from the dots being slightly prominent, or, ^vhcn very plump witli \vator, 

 nearly smooth, of a somewhat bluisli-glauoous-green, tinged with purple at 

 the tips when fully exposed to the sun, thickly dotted with dark green on 

 the whole of the hack and a thin sprinkling of rather le^^s conspicuous dark 

 green dots on the basal part of the flat upper sui'face, ^vith the basnl tumour 

 whitish. Peduncle 7-10 cm. long, terete, without bracts, the so-called bracts 

 of descriptions being the two terminal leaves of the growth, from between 

 which the peduncle arises, and which are about as long as the peduncle. 

 Calyx 4 (perhaps sometimes 5)-lobed, the inner lobes with membranous 



marcrins. 



Corolla about 4 cm. in diameter ; petals 



numerous, in about 



8 series^ linear-lanceolate, acute^ entire, unequal in length, yellow, shining. 

 Stamens numerous, convergent, -with white filaments and j)allid anthers 

 according to Haworth, collected into an erect group and yellow according to 

 Salm-Dyck. Stigmas 8-10, subulate, mucli shorter than the stamens, 

 closely incurved according to Haworth, but represented us erect by Salm- 

 Dyck ; both may be different stages of maturity, yellowish. — M. tulerculatuui^ 

 Miller, Diet. ed. 8, no. 152 (1708), not of De Candolle, M. Tostratum, 

 Weston, Univ. Bot. vol. i. p. 171 (1770) : Lanj. Encycl, vol, ii. p. 486 : Ait. 

 Ilort. Kew. ed. 1, vol. ii. p. UU ; & ed. 2, vol. iii, p. 217 : Haw. Obs. p. 152 ; 



Misc. p. 29; Synop. p, 211; k (including 



) 



§ 3, fig. 7 : Berger, Mesemb. p. 255, f. 55, I-IIF, 

 not of Linne, and excluding from all authors synonyms not quoted here. 

 St)UTH Africa. Locality and collector unknown. Introduced into England 



before 17G8. 



This very old garden plant has been confused w^ith M, rostratum^ Linn, by 



all authors since Miller. From its being so confused it appears to me 



doubtful if it could have been compared with the figure and description of 



Dillenius upon which Linne founded that species, or it could never have 



been mistaken for it, as it is not nearly so stout and is quite different in 



appearance 



and 



CO 



lour from Af. rostratum. In the length of its leaves 



4 , 



M. tuberculatum varies considerably : Haworth, writing of it in 1794 (under 

 the mistaken name of M. rostratum)^ states that they are " generally 2^ or 

 3 inches long ; in the plant before me, some of them nearly six.'' Wliere 

 the plant gets 'plenty of air and sunlight 3 to 4 inches is probably about the 

 avera<^'e, but where direct sunlight is absent in winter and the air confined, 

 they often become much longer. The dots on the back of its leaves are 

 much more prominent than in any species allied to it that I have ^een, and 

 on the newly-produced leaves in their most plump condition are distinctly 



