Tab. 7894. 

 SPHEDAMNOCARPUS pruriens. 



Native of South Africa. 



Nat. Ord. Malpighiace^. — Tribe BannfsteriejB. 



Genus Sphedamnocarpus (Planch, ex Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. i. 



p. 256). 



Sphedamnocarpus pruriens ; frutex alte scandena, ramnlia tomentellia, foliia 

 oppositts 1-4 poll, longis breviter petiolatis ovato-oblongis supra glabris 

 subtus marginibusque tomento sericeo argenteis apice rotundatis mncro- 

 natia basi rotundatis coi-datiave, petiolo supra medium biglanduloso, 

 floribus subcorymbosia 1-1J poll, latia, pedunculis l-l|-pollicaribua 

 sericeis supra medium articulatis et bibracteolatis, calycia segmentia ad 

 £ poll, longia oblongia apice rotundatis dorso sericeis fructn paulo 

 auctis, petalia subaBqaalibus ad ^ poll, longis breviter nnguicalatis 

 orbicularibus aureis marginibua crispalis, filamentis calyce eequilongis 

 basi connatis, antheris majusculis connectivo rubente, ovario 3-lobo 

 hirsnto, stylis elongatis divaricatis, samaris 2-3 sericeis facie interiore 

 plana receptacalo applicata lateralibus inflatis, ala ad ^ poll, longa. 



S. pruriens, Szystyl. Polypet. Rekmann. Enum. (1888) p. 2. 



Acridocarpns pruriens, A. Juss. in Arch. Mus. Paris, vol. Hi. (1843), p. 492. 

 Harv. & Sond. Fl. Gap. vol. i. p. 232. Walp. Rep. vol. v. p. 289. 



It is remarkable that of the great Natural Order of 

 Malpighiacese, which consists of about 50 genera and 

 600 species, many of them of great beauty, only eight, 

 including that here figured, should have found their way 

 into the Botanical Magazine. The others are Malpighia 

 glabra, Linn. t. 813, Ilirsea Simsiana, A. Juss. (M. volu- 

 bilis, Sims, t. 809), Byrsonima lucida, DC. (M. lucida, 

 8w. t t. 2462), Eeteropteris chrysophylla, H. R. t. 3237, 

 Acridocarpus natalitius, A. Juss. t. 5738, Stigmatophyllum 

 heterophyllum, Hook. t. 4104, and S. littorale, A Juss. 

 t. 6632. The reason for their being seldom cultivated, and 

 hence rarely figured from living plants, is that they are 

 for the most part tropical, rambling, woody climbers, 

 unsuitable for cultivation in an ordinary stove. 



The genus Sphedamnocarpus is a considerable one. 

 There are as many as ten species of it in the Kew Her- 

 barium, including several undescribed ones. With the 

 exception of one Madagascar species, and S. pruriens, all 

 are from tropical Africa. S. pruriens is a native of Natal, 

 Mat 1st, 1903. 



