Asclepias. | ASCLEPIADE (Brown). 689 
25. A. filiformis (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. ii. 753 and 754 in 
notes under Schizoglossum and Gomphocarpus); stems numerous, 
3-6 ft. high, slender, about 4 lin. thick at the flowering part, simple 
or rarely branched above, glabrous, covered with a thin white dry 
secretion ; leaves 2-4 in. long, 1-3 lin. broad, filiform or linear, 
acute, glabrous ; umbels 4-8, pedunculate, racemose, 6—10-flowered ; 
peduncles 4—1 in. long; pedicels 4-6 lin. long, at first minutely 
white-tomentose, becoming glabrescent ; sepals 1-1} lin. long, ovate 
or lanceolate, acute, white-tomentose ; corolla-reflexed, sulphur- 
yellow ; lobes 2-21 lin. long, 14 lin. broad, ovate, subacute or 
obtusely pointed, puberulous on the back ; corona-lobes arising }—} 
lin, up the staminal column and shortly exceeding it, 1} lin. long, 
erect, complicate-cucullate, obliquely truncate, with the obtuse apex 
and the side apical angles slightly produced, and a compressed 
shortly exserted horn arising at or below the middle of the cavity 
within ; staminal column 14-1} lin. long; anther-appendages 
lanceolate, acute, inflexed on the depressed-truncate style-apex ; 
follicles solitary, about 1} in. long and } in. thick, narrowly 
lanceolate, acuminate from the middle into a long acute beak, 
pulverulent or at length glabrate ; seeds 24-3 lin. long, ovate, plano- 
convex, smooth, brown, with a narrow darker brown border. 
N. E. Br. in Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. iv. i. 336; Schinz in Verhandl. 
Bot. Ver. Brandenb. xxx. 262, under A. buchenaviana, Schinz; K. 
Schum. in Engl. and Prantl, PAlanzenfam. iv. ii. 238. A. flagellaris, 
Bolus ex Schlechter in Engl. Jahrb. xviii. Beibl. 45, 32, under A. 
schizoglossoides, and xxi. Beibl. 54, 7, and Journ. Bot. 1896, 451. 
Lagarinthus filiformis, E. Meyer, Comm. 203. Gomphocarpus filiformis, 
_ Dietr. Syn. Pl. ii. 900 ; Deene in DC. Prodr. viii. 558. 
Var. 8, buchenaviana (N. E. Br. in Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. iv. i. 336); stems 
stouter, } lin. thick at the flowering part, much branched above ; otherwise as in 
the type, or with the horn of the corona-lobes arising above the middle of the 
cavity within. A. buchenaviana, Schinz in Verhandl. Bot. Ver. Brandenb. xxx. 
261; Engl. in Engl. Jahrb. xix. 148; K. Schwm. in Engl. and Prantl, 
Pflanzenfam. iv. ii, 238. 
CrntRaL Recion : Calvinia Div. ; between Lospers Plaats and Springbok Kuil 
River, Zeyher, 1167! Prince Albert Div. ; plain near Zwartbulletje, Drége, 892! 
near the Gamka River, Burke, 247! Boters Kraal, near Prince Albert, Bolus, 
12137! Beaufort West Div. ; near Beaufort West, Mrs. Barber! near Riet Viey 
in the Gouph, Bolus in MacOwan and Bolus, Herb. Norm. 640! 
WESTERN REGION: Var. 8: Great Namaqualand; in the bed of a river, 
Schinz, 19! 
Also found in Tropical Africa. 
This plant may prove to be of some economic value, since Mrs. Barber states as 
follows on a note with her specimens :—‘‘ This species ought to be useful as a 
fibre-plant, it is exceedingly tough, grows from 4-6 ft. high, and has upwards of 
two hundred, almost leafless slender stems on a single plant.” 
26. A. decipiens (N. E. Br.) ; a branching shrubby plant, 2-3 ft. 
high, with the habit of A. fruticosa, Linn. ; stems white-tomentose 
VOL. IV,—SECT. I.—PART V. 2¥ 
