t 



. .' 



SPECIES OF MESKMBUYANTTIEMUM. 



135 



yellow. The branches suberect-ilcciimboiit, paniculate^ with the bninclilcts 

 scarcely spreading and in a manner rather decunibeni-a.^cending/' Burcliell 

 collected seeds only of this species, from which the plants described by 



Huworth were raised in Enoland. 



Sonder^ and Berger copyiiig from him, places this plant as a synonym of 

 M. clandesU'num, Haw\, which it is scarcely likely to be, as that plant is 

 stated to have been introduced in 1S74 by Masson, who so far as known did 

 not go to the Graaff Reinet Region- In 1873 he collected in the coastal 

 districts only^ and in 1774 went to tlie lioggeveld wdth Thiniberg, M. clan- 

 destmum dmiir:^ according to the descriptions ot it in being a perennial 

 with pedicellate (not sessile) flowers^ 1-3 togetlier or in cymes^ not pani- 

 culate. Also Haworth had both plants in cultivation, and w^ould therefore 

 know them to be ditierent. 



M. SULCATUM, Ilaw\ (§ DigitiHora), (PL 10. fig. 45-) An erect shrub up 

 to 90 cm* (3 fr.) high, leafy. Branches about 3 mm, thick, dividing at the 

 top into a largt^ lax cyme composed of 3 smaller leafy flat-topped cymes^ each 

 about 6 cm. in diameter, witli 4-6 (or perhaps more) flowers, which appear 

 to develop one at a time; internodes 



1^-4 cm. long; green. 



Leaves 



2-3^ cm, longj 3-3^ mm. broad and about as thick, spreading, clustered at the 

 nodes, linear-subulate^ scmiterete, channelled down the upper side, at least 

 wdien young, rounded on the back^ acute or subobtusc, apparently glabrous^ 



pale green. 



Peduncle 10-15 mm, lono*. 



Caiyx 5-lobed ; lobes unequal, 

 10-15 nun. long, resembling Qie leaves, but smaller, acute, green. Corolla 

 about 25 nun. in diameter; petals very numerous, about 12 mm. long and 



^ mm, broad, verj' narrowly linear or almost setaceous, verj^ spreading, with 

 recurved tips, according to Haworth wdiiLe or silhy- white wdthin and at first 



somewhat straw-coloured outside, shining, but according to the drawing the 

 basal part is of a very pale yellowish ^md the tips tinted with reddislubuff. 

 Stamens mostly collected into a dense erect column about 5 mm. long, with 

 a few of the outer without anthers, and spreading away from it, and 



becoming [letal-like. Stigmas 5j erect, not ovcrfcop[)ing the 



duall 



V 



gra 



stamens. — M. sulcatum^ Haw. Hev. p, 173 (1821) : DC. Prodr. vol. iii, p. 445 : 



Gr. Don, Gen. Syst. vol. iii. p. 147, not ot" other authors. 



South Africa. Locality unknown, JJurchelL 



The above description is made partly from Ha worth's original descripliouj 

 al] the characters given by him being embodied in it, ami partly from an 



original drawdng of a porlion of the type plant preserved at Kew^ labelled 

 ''il/< salcatinn, Haw. Keceived from Mr. Haworth in lb23, wdio obtained it 

 from Mr. BurchelL" This dra\ving represents a portion of a branch with a 

 large 3-b ranched cymOj of which only one branch is coloured, the remainder 

 being outlined in pencil ; the coloured branch I have copied upon PL 10. 



