Raphwnacme. | ASCLEPIADE& (Brown). 533 
solitary by abortion, short or long, lanceolate, fusiform or linear- 
terete. Seeds crowned with a tuft of hairs. 
Perennial herbs; rootstock a depressed or ovoid tuber, often having a long 
woody neck, or consisting of a cluster of long fusiform fleshy roots 4-1 in. thick ; 
juice milky; stem usually dwarf, simple or branched, sometimes twining ; leaves 
opposite; flowers small or of moderate size, in few- or many-flowered cymes or 
clusters, subaxillary from one axil, lateral at the nodes or terminal or seated in 
the forks of the stem, 
Distris. Species about 25, all the others in Tropical Africa. 
Closely related to Tacazzea, from which it chiefly differs in its usually distinct 
oe eae corolla-tube, by the cymes never arising from both axils, and by 
abit. 
The cymes in Raphionacnve are not truly axillary, although often apparently so; 
morphologically they terminate the axis bearing the pair of leaves, from one 
of whose axils they appear to arise; the bud in the axil of one of these leaves 
rapidly develops, and falsely appears to be a direct continuation of the axis 
below, forming a sympodial stem; the bud in the other axil is arrested, and thus 
the terminal cyme takes its place and appears to be axillary ; in a few species, 
however, the buds in both axils grow out and form branches, the cymes are 
ba placed in the forks of the stem, and their truly terminal nature is made 
evident. 
Stem distinctly twining, minutely puberulous: 
Corolla-lobes 5-6 lin. long, 25-3 lin. broad ~—...._ (1) Monteiro. 
Corolla-lobes 24-34 lin. long, 3-14 lin. broad ... (2) Flanagani. 
Stem procumbent, up to 1 ft. long, conspicuously 
pubescent ; corolla-lobes about 1} lin. long ... (3) procumbens. 
Stem and branches erect : 
Plant usually with a solitary stem, simple or with 
1 branch near or above the middle: 
Plant 1-2 ft. high, rarely less, with a 
minute inconspicuous pubescence on the 
stem and leaves a eae i “is 
Plant 2-9 in. high, with a very conspicuous 
pubescence on the leaves ... ies i 
Plant branching at the base into 2 or more 
stems or the stem branching from the base 
upwards : 
Flowers green or yellowish-green; corona- 
lobes deeply trifid : 
Sepals less than twice as long as broad, 
broadly ovate or oblong-ovate, obtuse 
or subacute... ae eee toe 
Sepals generally 2 or more times as 
long as broad, narrow, very acute: 
Leaves glabrous above, puberulous 
beneath; sepals shorter than the : 
corolla-tube or rarely equalling it (7) Burkei. 
Leaves softly and conspicuously 
pubescent on both sides; sepals 
slightly longer than the corolla- 
tube we i. ae ee 
Flowers purple; corona-lobes' variable, Sra 
entire or toothed at the apical part only... (9) divaricata. 
(4) elata. 
(5) Galpinii. 
(6) Zeyheri. 
(8) velutina. 
1. R. Monteirow (N. E. Br.); rootstock tuberous; stem slender, 
twining, minutely puberulous; leaves distant, spreading ; petiole 
