( 2343 ) 



Brachystelma tuberosa. Tuberous-rooted 

 Brachystelma. 



A\ &. &. ■•fr. ■•fr. &. ■ v fr. .4'. ■*♦'■ .4*. A'. &. firi &• <~V< fo ■'V- &• iSfc 



Cfess a«rf Order. 



Pentandria Digynia. 



Generic Character. 



Asclepiadea. Corolla campanulata, sinubus angulatis. 

 Columna inclusa. Corona monophylla, 5-fida: lobis an- 

 theris oppositis, dorso simphcibus. Anthers absque mem- 

 brana apiculari. Massae, pollinis erect®, basi insertae. 

 Brown, Mscr. 



Specific Name and Synonym. 



Brachystelma tuberosa. Brown Mscr. 

 Stapelia tuberosa. Meerb. ic. t. 54. /. 1. monente D. 

 Aiton. 



Descr. Root a round tuber. Stem short, shrubby, branch- 

 ed : branches rounded, villous. Leaves opposite, membra- 

 neous, linear-lanceolate, concave, margins and keel ciliate. 

 Flowers in half whorls, about the size of Stapelia reclinata 

 n. 1397, three or four in each whorl, on short, cernuous 

 peduncles. Calyx 5-cleft, acute, shorter than the tube of 

 the corolla, and with the peduncle clothed with short 

 glandular hairs. Corolla on the outside green, dotted with 

 red ; ou-the inside black-purple, streaked with yellow in 

 the centre : tube bell shaped : limb 5-cleft, margins of the 

 lacinue revolute, ciliate at the base. Corona 5-cleft : seg- 

 ments triangular, conniving at the points. Like those of 

 the Stapelia, the flowers have a very offensive odour, 

 in this instance most resembling human faeces. 



Mr. Brown in his valuable treatise on the natural orders 

 of Asclepiadece and Apocineee y published in the first volume 

 of the transactions of the Wernerian Society, has divided 

 the genus Stapelia, but our present plant, will not unite 

 with any of the genera there established ; we are therefore 



highly 



