412 LXXXV. ASCLEPIADE& (BROWN). | Spheevocodon. 
Corolla-iube distinctly campanulate, 23 lin. long . 1. S. obtusifolium. 
Corolla with its united pirt $ lin. long, not forming a_ 
distinct tube, scarcely more than saucer-shaped . 2. S, melananthus. 
1. S. obtusifolium, Benth. in Hook. Ic. Pl. xii. 78, t. 1190. 
Rootstock woody. Stems several to a root, erect, 1-3 ft. high, 
branching at the base only, softly tomentose. Leaves spreading ; 
petiole 2-3 lin. long; blade 14-3 in. long, 3-1} in. broad, oblong to 
elliptic, usually very obtuse and apiculate, sometimes subacute, broadly 
or cuneately rounded at the base, subglabrous or sparsely pubescent 
above, softly pubescent beneath. Cymes umbel-like, sublateral, 
pedunculate, 6—13-flowered ; peduncles }—? in. long, tomentose ; bracts 
1-2 lin. long, linear, pubescent; pedicels 3-4 lin. long, tomentose. 
Sepals 2 lin. long, linear-lanceolate, acute, pubescent outside and at the 
apex inside. Corolla dark purple, 34-4 lin. in diam., broadly campanu- 
late (not globose as originally described), 5-lobed to 4 of the way down 
or rather more; tube 24 lin. long; lobes 13 lin, long, ovate, obtuse. 
outside more or less puberulous on the lobes, inside loosely clothed 
with very fine jointed (cobwebby ?) hairs. Coronal-lobes arising } lin. 
above the base of the staminal-column, radiating, fleshy, rather minute, 
tubercle-like, compressed, oblong, obtuse. Caudicles very slender.— 
Hiern in Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. i. 692. S. obtusifolia, K. Schum. in Engl. 
Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 326, and in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. i. 283, 
fig. 85, J-L, and 285. 8. natalense, Benth. in Hook. Ic. Pl. xu. 79. 
S. natalensis, K. Schum. in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. ii. 285. 
S. caffrum, Schlechter in Journ. Bot. 1895, 339. Tylophora 
caffra, Meisn. in Hook. London Journ. Bot. 1843, ii. 542, by error 
442. Gongronema Welwitschii, K.Schum. in Engl. Jahrb. xvii. 149. 
Lower Guinea. Angola: Pungo Andongo; in thickets near Luxillo River, 
Welwitsch, 4195! 4196! 
Wile Land. Uganda: East side of Lake Albert Edward, on dry grassy hills, 
Scott-Elliot, 8029! 
Mozamb. Dist. Portugue:e East Africa: by the River Shire near Morambala 
Kirk! British Central Africa: Nyasaland ; Namasi, Cameron ! and without pre- 
cise locality, Buchanan, 1370! 
Also in Natal, there being no distinction between S. natalense and the tropical 
plant. 
2. S. melananthus, V. /. Br. Plant 6-10 in. high, branching 
at the base. Stems erect, terete, puberulous. Leaves numerous, 
opposite, 4-8 lin. apart, ascending-spreading; petiole 4-1 lin. long ; 
blade 7-1} in. long, 34-7 lin. broad, elliptic-oblong, subacute, rounded 
or obtuse at the base, slightly puberulous on the veins and midrib 
beneath, elsewhere glabrous. Umbels lateral at the nodes, pedunculate, 
2-3- or sometimes 1-flowered; peduncles 5-11 lin. long, slender, 
puberulous; bracts }-3 lin. long, subulate to linear-lanceolate, acute ; 
pedicels 6-8 lin. long, slender, puberulous. Sepals 1 lin. long, 3-3 
lin. broad, lanceolate or oblong, acute, spreading, glabrous. Corolla 
subcampanulate, about }-} in. in diam., lobed to 2 of the way down, 
