Tas. 8579. 
TRICHOCAULON prcrum. 
Luttle Namaqualand. 
ASCLEPIADACEAE. ‘Tribe STAPELIEAE, 
Tricuocauton, N, E. Br. in Journ. Linn, Soc. vol. xvii. p. 164, 
Trichocaulon pictum, N. EH. Br. in Kew Bulletin, 1909, p. 807; affinis 
T. cactiformi, N. E. Br., sed corona in tubum distinctum haud inclusa et 
coronae interioris lobis supra antheras productis differt. 
Herba ; caulis subglobosus vel cylindrico-oblongus, obtusissimus, simplex vel 
_ basi tantum parce ramosus, 4~7 cm. longus, 4-5 em. crassus, irregulariter 
tessellato-tuberculatus, glaber, tuberculis 6-10 mm. diametro obtusissimis 
primum minute apiculatis. Flores fasciculati, erecti, fasciculis 2—4-floris. 
Pediceili 2 mm. longi, glabri. Sepala 1-1-5 mm. longa, late ovata, acuta, 
glabra. Corolla 9 mm. diametro, extra levis, intra minute rugulosa, glabra, 
albida punctis et lineis brevibus numerosis purpureis notata; tubus late 
atelliformis vel subplanus; lobi patentissimi, 2°5 mm. longi, 8 mm. lati, 
Tate deltoideo-ovati, acuti. Corona exterior 5-loba; lobi 1°5 mm. longi, 
trifidi vel bifidi cum denticulo intermedio interjecti, fere ad sinum corollae 
attingentes, pallide lutescentes, purpureo-maculati. Coronae interioris 
lobi 1-5 mm. longi, lineares, acuti, antheras excedentes apicibus conni- 
venti-erectis, lutescentes, purpureo-marginati.—N. E. Brown. 
The remarkable plant which is here depicted is one of 
a small group of species of Trichocaulon which, as regards 
their stems, resemble one another so closely that when 
out of flower they might pardonably be mistaken for 
forms of the same species. Yet they are so distinct as 
regards the colour and the structure of their flowers that 
they cannot with propriety be treated as conspecific. 
The extent of the difference between one such form and 
another may be best realised if the figure now given of 
T. pictum be compared with that of 7: cactiforme, N. E. Br., 
figured, as Stapelia cactiformis, at t. 4127 of this magazine. 
T. pictum was originally discovered in Little Namaqua- 
land by Dr. R. Marloth. It was met with again by 
Professor H. H. W. Pearson in the same country, during 
the course of the Percy Sladen expedition, on the north- 
western slopes of quartzite hills south-west of Chubiessis, 
and the plant from which our drawing has been made is 
one of those included in a magnificent. collection of 
OcrosER, 1914. 
