Stapelia. | ASCLEPIADEZ (Brown). 991 
long, ? in. thick excluding the teeth, obtusely 4-angled, with very 
stout conical acute spreading teeth 24-34 lin. long, glabrous, green, 
prettily marked with irregular purple stripes where exposed to the 
sun; flowers 1-4 together, successively developed near the base or 
middle of the young stems ; pedicels 14-14 in. long, 2 lin. thick, 
glabrous, purplish, striped with darker purple-red; sepals about 
4 in. long, ovate, acuminate, glabrous; corolla in bud depressed- 
pentagonal with a very acuminate point, when expanded 3-4 in, in 
diam., flat, with recurving lobes and a large very prominent solid- 
looking annulus, having the margin recurved so as to be nearly 
circular in transverse section, and the bottom of its cup densely 
covered with short erect stiff purple-brown hairs; back smooth and 
glabrous; inner surface very rugose with crowded transverse 
papillate ridges on the lobes and minutely tuberculate-rugose on the 
annulus, pale greenish-yellow, everywhere covered with dark purple- 
brown thick transverse lines or rounded or transverse or confluent 
spots or labyrinthine markings, those on the annulus as large as or 
smaller than those on the lobes; lobes 1-1} in. long, {—1 in. broad 
at the base, broadly ovate, shortly or long-acuminate, not ciliate ; 
outer corona-lobes ascending, 3$—4 lin. long, linear or linear-lanceo- 
late, entire, acute, yellow, dotted with purple-brown ; inner corona- 
lobes connivent-erect, with recurved tips, simple, 2-24 lin. long, 
filiform, clavate at the apex, slightly gibbous at the base, but 
without an outer horn; follicles subparallel, 5-6 in. long, } in. 
thick, fusiform, acuminate, glabrous; seeds not seen. N. H. Br. in 
Hook. Ic. Pl. t. 1908 ; Schlechter in Journ. Bot. 1898, 482. 
Var. 8, ciliolata (N. E. Br. in Gard. Chron. 1882, xviii. 648); corolla shortly 
or minutely ciliate with simple or subclavate white or white and dark purple 
hairs mixed, spotting variable; outer corona-lobes entire, acute ; otherwise as in 
the type. N. #. Br. in Hook. Ic. Pl. t. 1908, fig. B. 8. ciliolata, Riist in 
Monatsschr. Kakt. vi. 48, not of Todaro. 
Var, y, bidens (N. E. Br.); corolla-lobes minutely or shortly ciliate with 
simple white hairs, sometimes almost absent ; outer corona-lobes rather deeply 
bifid, with parallel teeth, with or without a minute tooth in the notch ; otherwise 
as in the type. 
Var. 3, tridentata (N. E. Br. in Gard. Chron. 1882, xviii. 648); corolla 
shortly or minutely ciliate as in var. 8; spotting variable; outer corona-lobes 
minutely and regularly or irregularly 3-toothed, or entire and truncate or very 
obtuse at the apex; otherwise as in the type. WN. #. Br. in Hook. Ic. Pi. 
t. 1908, fig. C. 8. tridentata, Riist in Monatsschr. Kakt. vi. 43, not of Schultes, 
WesteRN Recion: Little Namaqualand, (all varieties); Komkam, Rich in 
Herb. Pillans, 16! and without precise locality, Barkly, 6! 64! 64 bis! Var. B: 
Komkam, Rich in Herb. Pillans, 167! and without precise locality, Barkly, 38! 
Var, y: without precise locality, Bolus! Ver. 5; Ookiep, Templeman in Herb. 
Pillans, 7! and without precise locality (Morris, 7) Barkly! Scully! 
This species according to Sir Henry Barkly is common in Namaqualand, and 
from the specimens I have seen of it would appear to be as variable in colour, 
ciliation and outer corona-lobes as S. variegata, no two gatherings of it which I 
have examined being quite identical, Var. 8 is described from living plants sent 
era by Sir Henry Barkly in 1874; the flowers remain expanded for 
