440 LXXXV. ASCLEPIADEE (BROWN). [ Ceropegia. 
fleshy, narrowly lanceolate, acute, ciliate on the margins, sparsely 
pubescent on the midrib beneath, glaucous-green, paler beneath. 
Flowers 1-3 together at the nodes, with occasionally a deflexed 
peduncle up to } in. long bearing 2-3 flowers; pedicels 14 lin. long, 
slightly pubescent. Corolla about 6 lin. long, pubescent and of a lurid 
purple-brown outside, glabrous and blackish-purple inside ; tube about 
4—5 lin. long, curved or oblique, 2 lin. in diam. at the inflated-ovoid 
basal half, constricted below the short funnel-shaped mouth; lobes 
1} lin. long, free, slightly spreading, tapering from a detoid base toa 
short linear point, slightly keeled down the face. Outer corona cam- 
panulate, about ? lin. long, subtruncate, obscurely 5-toothed, blackish- 
purple; inner coronal-lobes barely } lin. long, incumbent on the backs 
of the anthers and shorter than them, dorsally adnate to the outer 
corona.— Hiern in Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. i. 696. 
Lower Guinea. Angola: Huilla; in a rocky bushy place near Lopollo, 
5200 ft., Welwitsch, 4267 ! 
3. C. nigra, V. 2. Br. in Kew Bulletin, 1895, 261. Stem twining, 
pubescent. Leaves spreading; petiole 4-1 in. long; blade #-1} in. 
long, $—1 in. broad and probably larger, ovate or elliptic-ovate, acute or 
acuminate, cordate or truncately rounded at the base, both sides with a 
short and rather harsh pubescence, but more sparse above. Cymes 
umbel-like, subsessile, several-flowered ; pedicels 4—6 lin. long, pubescent. 
Sepals i3-2 lin. long, subulate or lanceolate-subulate, pubescent. 
Corolla-tube 5-6 lin. long, curved above the somewhat oblique in- 
flated-ovoid base, which is about 1} lin. in diam., narrowed above, 
shortly funnel-shaped at the mouth, pubescent outside, glabrous inside 
and striate with black in the upper part; lobes widely spreading, with 
free tips, 24 lin. long, 1} lin. broad at the base, deltoid-ovate, obtuse, 
with recurved margins, pubescent on the back, very minutely puberulous 
on the inner face at the base and around the mouth of the tube, black 
in the dried state. Outer coronal-lobes + lin. long, erect, rectangular, 
bifid, with slightly incurved teeth, pallid; inner coronal-lobes 1} lin. 
long, filiform, erect, with incurved penicillate tips, blackish. 
Upper Guinea. By the River Niger, Baikie! 
In the dried state the lobes and mouth of the corolla-tube are black, but as the 
same parts of C. kroboensis, N. E. br., are stated to be “ metallic blue-green 
when alive, it is probable that C. nigra is also of that colour in the living state, the 
two species being very similar. 
4. C. kroboensis, V. 2. Br. Stem twining, pubescent, about 1 
lin. thick ; internodes 3-5 in. long. Leaves spreading; petiole 1-1} in. 
long, pubescent ; blade 1}-2} in. long, 3-1} in. broad, cordate-ovate, 
shortly acuminate, thinly covered with rather long jointed hairs on the 
upper side, minutely pubescent beneath, ciliolate. Cymes lateral at the 
nodes, subsessile or very shortly pedunculate, many-flowered ; very 
often a branch originates at the same node; peduncles 0-2 lin. long, 
pubescent ; bracts minute, subulate, pubescent; pedicels 5—7 lin. long, 
slender, minutely pubescent, thickening and growing to about ? in. long 
