﻿T^higozum.] bignoniacb^ (Sprague). 45] 



Erect, much-branched spiny shrubs; leaves fascicled, simple, trifoliolate or 

 pinnate; flowers yellow, salmon-coloured or white, solitary or fascicled ou 

 cushion-hke contracted branches. 



DiSTEiB. Species 7, natives of Tropical and South Africa. 



(R. madagascariense has a circumscissile calyx, and is therefore to be excluded 

 rrom the genus.) 



Leaves simple, undulate ; branches ternate (I) trichotomum. 



Leaves simple or trifoliolate, not undulate : 



Blade |-1J iu.long; corolla 2 in. across ... (2) spinosum. 



Blade not more tban | in. long; corolla 1^ in. 



across (3) obovatum. 



Loaves pinnate (4) zambesiacum. 



1. R. trichotomum (Burch. Trav. i. 299) ; an erect shrub, 3-4 ft. 

 high ; branches ternate ; branchlets strict, obliquely erect ; leaves 

 simple, subsessile, 3-5 fascicled on small cushions, sessile on the 

 branches, oblong-spathulate, spathulate or obovate-spathulate, more 

 rarely obcordate, 3|-8 lin. long, 1^-3^ Ut. broad, undulate, 

 glabrous ; flowers several, fascicled on a terminal cushion ; calyx 

 tubular-campanulate^ 4 lin. long, irregularly 3-4-lobed and split 

 down one or both sides, 6-cuspidate, prominently ribbed, pilose or 

 subtjlabrous ; corolla salmon-coloured ; tube narrowly funnel-shaped, 

 f in, long, cylindric portion equalling the calyx, glabrous outside, 

 slightly pilose within below the insertion of the stamens; lobes 

 orbicular, 5 lin. in diani., crenulate ; stamens inserted 4 lin, above 

 base of corolla-tube; filaments 4 lin. long; anthers 4 lin, long, 

 beaked above ; ovary l- lin. long ; cipsule oblong, shortly beaked, 

 3 2 in. long, 5 lin. broad, Bre'r/e in Limuea, xx. 195; DC. 

 Prodr. ix. 234 ; Spra(/ue in Hook. Ic. PL t. 2799 ; not of aihn- 

 authors. 



Centbal Region: Calvinia Div. ; Bitterfontein, 3000-tOOO ft., Zeyhei: 

 Carnarvon Div. ; at the uortlieni exit of the Kari-ee Bergen I'oort, ne^ir 

 Carnarvon, BurcJiell, 1572 ! Philipstowii Div. ; near Petrusville, /furchell, 

 2C80! Hopetowu Div. ; near Hopetowu, J;w«Ae?i, 2663/2 ! Shaw! 



Kalahari Region : north and south of the Ovimgc River, Shaio ! 



2. R. spinosum (Burch. MS.); an erect shrub, (5-7 ft. high, 

 with sinuous branches and spreading branchlets ; spines 3-4 liu. 

 long, inserted above the tomentose leaf-cushions : leaves simple or 

 trifoliolate ; petiole 1-1} lin. long ; blade oblong, tapering towards 

 the base, f-l| in. long, 1|-4a lin. broad, finely tomentose with 

 stellate hairs when young, afterwards glabrous; flowers on lateral 

 cushions ; calyx broadly campanulate^ nearly 4 lin. long, pubescent 

 or finely tomentose ; corolla yellow ; limb 2 in. across ; lobes sub- 

 orbicular, 9 lin. in. diam.; filaments 4 lin. long; anthers under 

 1|- lin. long, not beaked. 



Kalahari Region: Becbuanaland ; on the rocks at the Chue Spring, 

 Bwchell, 2398/1 ! 



Burchell's specimen has only one imperfect flower, of wliicl» enough remiiina, 

 however, to show that E. spinosum is a very distinct -picies. In the Iropical 



G g 2 



