Tab. 7857. 

 STREPTOCARPUS Mahoni. 



Native oj British Central Africa. 



Nat. Ord. Gesnerace^e. — Tribe CYRTANDREiE. 

 Genua Streptocarpus, LlndL; {Benfh. ^- Eook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. ii, p. 1023.) 



Streptocarpus Mahoni ; acaulis, nionophyllas, folio amplo pedali terra? 

 appresso ovato-oblongo crenulato basi subcordato apice rotundato glabio 

 V. parce piloso multinervi inter nervos rugose supra Isete viridi snbtus 

 pallidiore, scapis secns basin costa? seriatim evolutis confertis 4-6-polli- 

 caribus robustis dense pilosis, cymis compositis multifloris, ramis 

 ramulisque decurvis v. pendulis calycibusque pilosis, sepalis ^ poll, longis 

 linearibus, corollsB violacese tubo § poll, longo pubescente decurvo supra 

 medium inflate, limbi lobis rotnndatis, lobis labii superioris pauUo minori- 

 bus, filamentis brevibus curvis uno latere sparsim glanduloso-pilosis, 

 antherarum loculia ovoideis divaricatis, ovario pubescente, stigmate 

 2-lobo, capsulis 2|-polliearibus gracilibus pendulis pubeacentibus. 



S. Mahoni, Hook.f. 



Streptocar;pus Mahoni is allied to ^S'. Saundersii, Hook., 

 of Natal, figured at tab. 5251 of this work, in habit and 

 inflorescence, but does not appear to attain the dimensions 

 of that majestic species, nor has it the dark, rose-red 

 undersurface of the leaves. It further differs from S. 

 Saundersii in the much more compound and pendulous 

 cymes, and in the violet-blue colour of the flowers, the 

 more slender tube and broader lobes of the corolla, and in 

 the almost sessile stigma. Twenty-three species of Strepto- 

 carpus are enumerated in the " Index Kewensis," and twelve 

 have been figured in the Bota7iical Magazine, all South 

 African, except S. MaJioni and two others from tropical 

 East Africa; while two others {S. caulescens, Vatke, 

 t. 6814, and ^S'. KirJcii, Hook. f. t. 6782) differ remarkably 

 from the rest in having erect stems with solitary axillary 

 cymes. The ten South African species are S. Bexii, Lmdl. 

 {Didymocarpits Bexii, t. 3005; S. polyanthus, Hook, 

 t. 4850 ; S. Gardenii, Hook. t. 4862 ; S. Saundersii, Hook, 

 t- 5251; 8. Dnnnii, ^Rook. t. 6903; ^\ lutea, Clarke." 

 (S, parviflora, t. 6636, non Meyer) ; S. parviflora, Mey. 

 ^•7036; S. Galpini, Hook. f„ t. 7230; S. Wendjandv, 

 Hort. Damm. t. 7447, and the subject of this plate. 

 OcTOBiR Ux, 1902. 



