Tab. 7173. 

 HERMANNIA ceistata. 



Native of South Africa. 



Nat. Ord. Stekculiacfje. — Tribe HermanniejE. 

 Genus Hermannia, Linn.; (Benth. & Hook.f. Gen. PI. vol. i. p. 223.) 



Herkannia cristata: fruti cuius scabride stellatim-pubescens, laxe foliosus, 

 foliis subsessilibus oblongis v. oblongo-lanceolatis acutis crenato-serratis 

 basi rotundatis v. cuneatis, stipulis subulatis, floribus axillaribus, pedi- 

 cellis gracilibus, bracteis minimis, calycis campanulati lobis triangularibus 

 acutis v. acuminatis, petalis unguiculatis limbo suborbiculari, iilamentis 

 spathuiato-oblanceolatis acutis ciliatis, antberis petala subsequantibus 

 angustis acuminatis, capsula subspberica tomentosa angulis processubus 

 filiformibus incurvis demum rigidis pectinatim cristatis. 



H. cristata, Bolus in Journ. Linn. Soc. ; Bot. vol. xxv. p. 156. 



The Hermannice are natives of Africa (chiefly South 

 (Africa with a few Mexican and Texan. Upwards of seventy 

 species are known from the first named country. Few are 

 possessed of any beauty, though in the old days of dry 

 stove and greenhouse cultivation, some of the more attrac- 

 tive found favour in what was called the " Cape House." 

 Twenty-six species are enumerated in the Hortus 

 Kewensis as to be found in English gardens at the 

 beginning of the century, and five are figured in early 

 volumes of this work, of which H. flammea (Tab. 1349) 

 deserves a place in any conservatory. And the same may 

 be said of the species here figured, which is, botanically, a 

 very curious one, inasmuch as, as Mr. Bolus (an excellent 

 South African botanist and the author of the species) 

 points out, it differs from all its South African con- 

 geners (known to him), and approaches the American 

 H. texana in the broad crests of its capsule. 



H. cristata is a native of the eastern districts of South 

 Africa and has a wide range, from the Transvaal to Griqua- 

 land, Natal, the Orange Free State, and Basuto-land — that 

 is half across the continent, in lat. 29 S. Mr. Bolus 

 describes the flowers of native specimens as of a beautiful 

 crimson, a hue which they have not attained under the 



May 1st, 1891. 



