Tas. 7668, 
HELIOPHILA scanpens, 
Native of Natal. 
Nat. Ord. Crucirerx.—Tribe SisyMBRIExX. 
Genus Henioruia, Linn. ; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. i. p. 81.) 
Hettornita (Selenocarpwa) scandens; perennis, glaberrima, caule elongato 
gracili volubile ramoso folioso, foliis sparsis elliptico-oblongis v. lanceolatis 
acuminatis in petiolum angustatis, racemis subcorymbosis laxifloris, 
pedicellis gracilibus ebracteatis, floribus fere 1 poll. diam., sepalis sub- 
zquilongis oblongis obtusis 2 lateralibus multo latioribus dorso breviter 
crasse alatis, petalis spathulatis albis v. pallide roseis, filameatis nadis, 
antheris 4 majoribus recurvis, ovario subgloboso, stylo brevi, stigmate 
didymo, silicula 1}-pollicari elliptico-oblonga utrinque acuta 1-3-sperma 
complanata, valvis membranaceis enerviis, seminibus orbicularibus valde 
compressis } poll. latis. 
H. scandens, Harv. Thes. Capens. vol. ii. p. 44, t. 166. 
In the whole large natural Order of Crucifere, embracing 
about 180 genera, only two of these are recorded as bearing 
scandent species. They are the 8. African genus Helio- 
phila, and the Peruvian Cremolobus, DC., and in these the 
scandent habit is quite exceptional. Heliophila itself is 
rather an anomalous genus. It consists of nearly seventy 
species, confined to Africa South of the tropic, and as 
monographed in the ‘‘ Flora Capensis”’ of Harvey & Sonder, 
it presents so much variety in the form of the fruit, as to 
have been broken up into six genera, some of which will, 
no doubt, be re-established. Amongst these is Seleno-— 
carpea, Kekl. & Zey., to which H. scandens belongs, dis- 
tinguished by its flat pods. These are beautiful objects in 
HH. scandens, the membranous valves being veined, and the 
septum between the cells, one of which is usually empty, 
is of a silvery appearance, of extreme tenuity, and nerve- 
less. The orbicular flat seeds have a membranous testa, 
with a very narrow, delicate, hyaline border. The con- 
torted and convolute narrow cotyledons are exceedingly 
curious. 
H., scandens inhabits shady places amongst shrubs 
near D’Urban, and at Inanda, in Natal. A plant of it was 
received at the Royal Gardens, Kew, from Mr. J. Medley 
Wood, Curator of the Botanical Garden of D’Urban, in 
Aveust Ist, 1899, 
