Tas. 5087. 
APTERANTHES Gussoniana. 
Gussoni’s Apteranthes. 
Nat. Ord. ASCLEPIADEZ.—PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA. 
Gen. Char. Calyx quinquepartitus. Corolla rotata, quinquefida ; Jacintis late 
ovatis, apice pilosis. Gynosteginm faucem subeequans. Corona staminea simplex, 
quinqueloba ; Jodis subtriangularibus, obtusis, stigmate incumbentibus, carnosulis, 
basi et a latere globulis obtusis flavis stipatis. Anthere apice simplices ; masse 
pollinis rotundatee, margine hine pellucidee. Stigma muticum. Follicult . «i 
Herbee Stapelize habitu, in regione Mediterranea occidentali, ramis tetragonis denta- 
tis, floribus umbellatis parvis rufo-fuscis transverse rugosis, ad faucem pilis raris 
inspersis inodoris. De Cand. 
APTERANTHES Gussoniana.: 
Aprerantuzs Gussoniana. Mikan, Act. Acad. Nat. Cur. v. 17. p. 594. #. 41. 
 Gussoni, Notiz. 1832, n. 87, cum ic? De Cand. Prodr. v. 8. p. 649. 
Cosson et Dur. Fl. Alger. t. 62. f. 1 (sine descript.). 
Srapetra Gussoniana. Jacg. in Bot. Reg. t. 1731. 
Srapenia Europwa. Guss. Act. Soc. Bord. v. 4. p. 81, et Suppl. p. 65. Flor. 
Sicule, v. 1. p. 288. er 
Brrcnerosta Munbyana, “ Decaisne in litt.” (ad cl. Mnnby), Menby, Fi. d Alger, — 
p. 25. 
Formerly, Asclepiadeous plants, with the habit of the well- 
known genus S/apelia, were supposed to be peculiar to the 
deserts of southern Africa; but we have now, of this group, the 
genus Caralluma, of which two species ate peculiar to the Hast 
Indies, one to Arabia ; Boucerosia, whose nine species are found 
in the East Indies, Arabia, Senegambia; and Apteranthes, the 
plant now under consideration, the most interesting of all in a 
geographical point of view, inasmuch as it is the only represen- 
tative of the group which extends to Europe. It was first, —— 
1832, detected by Professor Gussonl, on the Sicilian island o 
Lampedusa ; has since been found about Oran, in Algeria, by 
an English botanist resident there, Mr. Munby ; and more re- 
cently in saline places at Cape Gata, and at Almeria, in Spain, 
by Mr. Webb. A solitary species only 1s known of the genus, 
DECEMBER, Ist, 1858. 
