312 EUPHOKBiicE^ (Brown). [EitfliorUct. 



95. E. Gorgonis (Berger in Engl. Jahrb. xlv. 230); very dwarf, 

 succulent, spineless ; main body of the plant globose or obconic, 

 2-4 in. in diam., with a crown of short radiating branches in 3-5 

 series around a branchless flat or depressed central area or disc 

 1-2 in, in diam. ; disc covered with acute conical tubercles 1-2| lin. 

 prominent and as much in diam., glabrous, dull green or more or 

 less tinged with purplish ; branches i-1 in. long or under cultiva- 

 vation up to 2 in. long, 3-5 lin. thick, cylindric or the younger 

 globose, covered with small 5-6-angled conical acute tubercles 1^-2 

 Hn. in diam. and i-1 lin. prominent, glabrous, green or tinged with 

 purplish, not glaucous; leaves rudimentary, only present on the 

 young growth and soon deciduous, |-1 lin. (or under cultivation up 

 to li lin.) long, i^-| lin. broad, lanceolate or elliptic, acute, glabrous ; 

 peduncles 2-5 lin. long, solitary in the axils of the tubercles of the 

 disc and branches, erect, stout, bearing 1 involucre and 3-5 minute 

 scale-like ciliate bracts, glabrous; involucre 2^-2£ lin. in diam., 

 cup-shaped, glabrous, with 5 glands of a rich dark purple-brown and 

 5 short broadly rounded or transversely oblong dull purplish white- 

 ciliate lobes ; glands vertically deflexecl, or deflexed-spreading, f-l^ 

 lin. in diam., suborbicular, with the side margins reflexed and so 

 often appearing very broadly ovate, with a notch on the upper 

 margin and the lower margin entire or notched or as if the apical 

 part were notched and pinched together and produced into 2 acute 

 or short subulate teeth or with 3-7 small irregular teeth scattered 

 along it, minutely pitted, varying even on the same plant (see note 

 below), usually rich dark crimson or brownish crimson, but under 

 cultivation sometimes bright red on the same plant at different 

 seasons, with the subulate points yellow ; capsule sessile or sub- 

 sessile, 2 lin, in diam., subglobose, slightly 3-grooved, thinly 

 sprinkled with hairs when young, sometimes nearly or quite 

 glabrous when ripe ; styles united into a column about ^ lin. long, 

 with spreading broadly cuneate-obcordate or 2-lobed arms ^-| Hn* 

 long, channelled down their face, green; seeds 1^ lin. long, ovoidj 

 acute at one end, minutely tuberculate, except along a narrow space 

 down the ventral side, blackish-grey. 



Coast Region : Uitenbage Div, ; hills between the SuBdaya River and Zwart- 

 kops River, Zeyher \ The Fountain, Palmer I Port Elizabeth Div. ; North Eucl 

 Hill, near Port Elizabeth, Mrs, Patcrson, 2144 ! Albany Div. ; near Grahamstown, 

 JIacOv:an, 3269, and in Ilcrh, Austi\-Afi\, 1957 1 Schonland, 43 ! 



Described from a living plant collected at The Fountain by Mr. C- K. Palmer 

 and sent to me by Mr. Burtt-Davy, who stated that it is '* abundant, and the juice 

 is used locally for the making of bird-lime ; stock of all kinds is said to be very 

 fond of the plant." This species admirably illustrates the effect of our insular 

 damp climate upon South African plants. When received at the end of June, 1911, 

 I planted it in the open air at Kew, where it flowered in August. Although the 

 summer was one of the driest on record, with no rain for 40 days^ the short 

 normal native-grown branches immediately began to elongate, and, as well as the 

 new- ones which formed, produced leaves 2-3 times as large as those that were 

 native-grown, giving the plant an entirely difiFerent appearance as compared with 

 that which it had when originally received. The English-grown branches are about 

 2A times as lonor as those found rvn ?smifV» ifi-i/^QT^ QY.o^;rr.ono 



