Tab. 6974. 

 CERATOTHECA triloba. 



Native of Natal. 



Nat. Ord. Pedaline^:. — Tribe Sesames. 

 Genus Ceeatotheca, JEadlicher ; (Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. PL vol. ii. p. 1059.) 



Ckkatotheca triloba ; elata, erecta, basi ramosa, pubescens, caule profunda 

 sulcato, foliis inferioribus longe petiolatis late ovato-cordatis integris v. 3-lobis 

 grosse crenato-serratis superioribus breviter petiolatis triangulari-ovatis 

 simiato-dentatis, floralibus sessilibus ovatis. floribus breviter pedicellatis nutan- 

 tibus, sepalis subsqualibus lanceolatis deciduis, corollse declinatae tubo piloso, 

 lirnbi bilabiati labio superiore e lobis 4 late ovato-rotundatis, inferiore duplo 

 longiore pendulo oblongo-ovato, ovario cylindraceo piloso, stigtnatibus subu- 

 latis, capsula oblongo-cylindracea bicornuta. 



C. triloba, JE. Meyer in Plant. Drege. 



Sporledera triloba, Bernhardt in Linntsa (1842) p. 41 ; A. Be Candolle Prodr. 

 vol. ix. p. 252; Gard. Chron. Ser. 3, vol. ii. (1887) p. 492, fig. 99. 



A native of Natal, closely allied to the common cultivated 

 Indian and Oriental Sesamum indicwm, Linn, (of which there 

 is an indifferent figure in this work, Plate 1688), but a very 

 much handsomer plant. Indeed Geratotheca differs from 

 the older genus in no important characters but the two- 

 horned capsule, and might well be regarded as a section of 

 it. Geratotheca itself has been subdivided into two genera, 

 but, as pointed out in the " Genera Plantarum," on 

 imaginary grounds, for Sporledera, which was invented for 

 G. triloba, does not even form a section of Geratotheca. 



G. triloba has been collected by many travellers, and over 

 a wide tract of country, including Natal, the Transvaal, 

 Bechuana land and Mulebele country. The Kew Garden 

 specimens which were raised from seed sent by Mr. Wood 

 from the Natal Botanical Garden are very much taller and 

 more luxuriant than the native ones ; they were raised from 

 seed that arrived in December, 1886, and flowered in 

 September of the following year. 



Dkscr. A tall pubescent herb with the habit of a fox- 

 glove. Stem five feet high, erect, stout, herbaceous and 

 rather succulent, with short branches from the base, simple 



JAN. 1st, 1SS8. 



