556 ASCLEPIADEH (Brown). [ Microloma. 
juice not milky; leaves minute, with very short petioles, 1-2} lin. 
long, 3~1 lin. broad, ovate or elongated deltoid, acute, subcordate or 
truncate at the base, puberulous, rather thick and fleshy, soon 
deciduous; cymes sessile, umbellately 3—6-flowered ; bracts minute, 
subulate ; pedicels 1—% lin. long, puberulous; sepals { lin. long, 
searcely 1 lin. broad, lanceolate, acute, puberulous ; corolla tubular, 
5-angled, seareely constricted at the mouth, greenish, very minutely 
puberulous outside ; tube 1-1} lin. long, thinly puberulous inside, 
with 5 tufts of reflexed hairs near the base ; lobes spirally connivent- 
erect into a short acute cone, each abont 2 lin, long, 4 lin. broad, 
compressed-complieate, ovate-lanceolate, acute, ciliate along one 
margin, slightly gibbous-keeled on the back at the base; eorona- 
tubercles none; staminal column rather more than +} lin. long; 
filament part short, stout, cylindric; anthers obtusely gibbous at the 
base; anther-wings inconspicuous, triangular, but scarcely spur-like; 
follicles not seen. 
Katanari Recion: Griqualand West; Hay Div.; at the Kloof Village in 
the Asbestos Mountains, Burchell, 2063! Bechuanaland; in rocky and stony 
places at Kosi Fontein, Burchell, 2585! 
10. M. Massonii (Schlechter in Journ. Bot, 1896, 418) ; a dwarf, 
much-branched woody shrub, 6-10 in. high; branchlets erect, 
straight, rather rigid and subspinescent at the apex, minutely puberu- 
lous, at least on the young parts, green; juice not milky; leaves 
minute, with very short petioles, opposite, and oceasionally alternate 
on the same plant, 1-21 lin. long, 4-11 lin. broad, cordate or lanceo- 
late, acute, with revolute margins, rather thick and fleshy, puberu- 
lous or subglabrous ; cymes sessile, fasciculately 3-6-flowered ; bracts 
minute, subulate ; pedicels 1—1 lin. long, puberulous ; sepals about 
1 lin. long, 4 lin. broad, linear-lanceolate, acute, minutely puberulous ; 
corolla urceolate, truncate, glabrous or rarely puberulous outside ; 
tube 11-14 lin. long, % lin. in diam., puberulous in the upper half 
inside, with 5 tufts of deflexed ‘hairs just below the middle ; lobes 
inflexed at a right angle and spirally arranged at the mouth of the 
tube, nearly closing it, 3-3 lin. long, eucullate-ovate, acute, slightly 
gibbous at the base, minutely ciliolate along one iargin ; corona- 
tubercles none; staminal column 2—% lin. long; filament part stout, 
cylindric ; anthers obtusely gibbous at the base ; anther-wings small, 
inconspicuous, triangular, but scarcely spur-like; follicle solitary, 
18-2 in. long, 2-23 lin. thick, fusiform, beaked, glabrous; seeds 
21 lin. long, 12 lin. broad, flattish, minutely rugulose-tuberculate. 
Astephanus Massoni, Schultes, Syst. Veg. vi. 124; Dietr. Syn. Pi. 
ii. 909; G. Don, Gen. Syst. iv, 158. Heemax Massoni, L. Meyer, 
Comm. 223; Harv. Gen. S. Afr. Pl. ed. 1, 228; Decne in DC. 
Prodr. viii. 509. 
Var. 8, Dregei (N. E. Br.); plant 12-16 in, (or perhaps more) high, with 
the main branches a foot or more high and less branched than in_the type, 
puberulous to the base. Hemaw Drege, E. Meyer, Comm. 223; Harv. Gen. 
8. Afr. Pl. ed. i. 228; Deene in DO. Prodr. viii. 509. Astephanus Dreget, 
D; Dietr. Syn, Pl, ii, 909. 
