854 ASCLEPIADE (Brown). | Brachystelma. 
24. B. comptum (N. E. Br.); rootstock a cluster of long thick 
fleshy narrowly fusiform roots; stem in the only examples seen 
2-3 in. high, simple or very sparingly branched, pubescent ; leaves 
in 4-6 pairs, very shortly petiolate, spreading, 5-8 lin. long, 
3-5 lin. broad, oblong, elliptic or orbicular-ovate, obtuse, rounded 
at the base, thinly pubescent on both sides and more densely on the 
midrib and margins with short spreading hairs ; flowers solitary, 
lateral at the nodes ; pedicels about } in. long, pubescent ; sepals 
1} lin. long, lanceolate-subulate, pubescent ; corolla-tube almost 
none, flattish or saucer-shaped, about } lin. deep, glabrous ; lobes 
free, erectly spreading, 4~4} lin. long, 1 lin. broad at the base, 
linear-oblong, subacute, apparently with slightly incurved margins, 
glabrous on both sides, ciliate at about 1 lin. above their base 
with a tuft of long jointed subclavate purple hairs, which are 
inwardly directed ; outer corona-lobes arising 3 lin. up the staminal 
column and overtopping it by half their length, 3—? lin. long, erect, 
linear, truncate and very slightly dilated at the entire apex, 
minutely puberulous, ciliate with long hairs at the tips, apparently 
pale purplish ; inner corona-lobes } lin. long, linear, obtuse, closely 
incumbent upon the backs of the anthers and not or scarcely 
Seen e them, dark purple-brown ; staminal column nearly 1 lin. 
ong. 
Coast Rearon : Uitenhage Div. ; karoo-like places on hills by the Zwartkops 
River, Zeyher, 9! 
The corolla-lobes of the only flower seen are dark-coloured and may have been 
either dark purple-brown or blackish-green. 
25. B. mafekingense (N. E. Br.); tuber depressed, “about 3 in. 
in diam. and 2 in. thick”; stems ‘richly branched from near the 
base 4~7 om. (ie. 13-23 in.) above the tuber” (Schénland), only 2 
bits 4 in. long seen, puberulous; leaves spreading, 1-2 in. long, 
very shortly petiolate, 1-1 in. broad, lanceolate, acute, cuneately 
rounded into the petiole at the base, apparently folded longitudinally, 
glabrous above, puberulous beneath ; flowers (on the only example 
seen) in a terminal 10-12-flowered umbel, sessile between a pair of 
leaves, with a short axillary branch beside it ; pedicels } in. long, 
puberulous; sepals 1-14 lin. long, narrowly lanceolate, acute, 
puberulous ; corolla-tube 2-24 lin. long, 14-1 lin. in diam., obtusely 
pentagonal, slightly narrowing upwards, minutely puberulous on the 
upper part outside, glabrous within, apparently whitish ; lobes 3-34 
lin, long, apparently free, erect, closely replicate and | lin. broad 
across the side, slightly obovate-oblong when flattened out, subacute, 
minutely puberulous on the back, glabrous and blackish on the inner 
face, not ciliate ; outer corona arising at the base of and equalling 
the staminal column, consisting of 5 or rarely 6 bifid erect lobes 
} lin. long at the back of and adnate to the inner corona-lobes, with 
the teeth narrow and not spreading, glabrous, apparently white ; 
inner corona-lobes 1 lin. long, linear, obtuse, incumbent at the base 
