1006 _ ASCLEPIADE (Brown). [ Stapelia. 
[Var. r, atrata (N. E. Br.); corolla 3-3} in. in diam., very flat on the back, 
very minutely ciliate on the deltoid-acuminate (not ovate) lobes.; inner surface 
(including the annulus) dull purplish-brown, somewhat indistinctly marked with 
rather large spots of a darker purple-brown, interspersed with a few yellowish 
spots or markings, chiefly on the terminal half of the lobes and annulus ; annulus 
pentagonal, with 5 pairs of slightly raised ridges radiating from the centre to the 
angles; outer corona-lobes bifid, with the teeth parallel or slightly diverging, 
yellowish, densely dotted with purple-brown on the apical part and with a cuneate 
purple-brown spot at the middle; inner corona-lobes with subequal horns, the 
outer ascending, not clavate; otherwise as in the type. S. atrata, Tod. Hort. 
Panorm. i. 50, t. 18, fig. 1. 
OricIN : raised in Europe, cultivated specimens ! 
This may be only a colour variation of var. atropurpurea or possibly a hybrid 
derived from it.] . 
[S. atrata, var. rufescens, Dammann ex Riist in Monatsschr. Kakt, vi. 39, is a 
hybrid bearing no resemblance to S. atrata, Tod. ; corolla 2} in. in diam. ; lobes 
ovate, acute, not ciliate, yellow, narrowly margined and spotted with purple- 
brown, with the basal spots much larger than the rest and those on the disk 
around the annulus confluent, those on the upper part are arranged in rows with 
very slender longitudinal purple-brown veins between them; annulus circular, 
thickly covered with purple-brown blotches, leaving narrow irregular yellowish 
spaces between ; outer corona-lobes oblong-linear, shortly bifid, pale yellow, with 
a pale purple-brown spot at the base and dots on the apical part; inner corona- 
lobes with the outer horn ascending. ] 
[Var. s, Prometheus, Dammann ex Riist in Monatsschr. Kakt. vi. 37, is a hybrid 
form with the corolla-lobes minutely ciliate, and the dark purple-brown area of 
confluent spots on the disk around the annulus extending in 5 rays to the sinuses, 
otherwise spotted much as in var. bufonia; annulus pentagonal, light yellow, 
without spots on the rim, but densely dusted with purple-brown in the cup ; 
corona as in yar, bufonia.] 
(70. 8. divergens (N. E. Br. in Gard. Chron. 1905, xxxvii. 49); 
habit, stems, pedicels and sepals as in S. variegata, and the 
flower simiJar in form ; corolla in bud shortly conical from a broad 
flattened pentagonal base, acute, when expanded about 2 in. in 
diam., slightly rugulose on the inner face, light yellow, labyrinthin- 
ally marked on the disk and lower 2 of the lobes with thick 
irregularly ramified brownish-crimson lines, which become broken 
up into spots on the apical part of the lobes; annulus bright 
canary-yellow, with rather crowded brownish-crimson round spots 
in the rugulose basin-like part, but none on the smoother hori- 
zontally spreading rim; disk nearly flat; lobes about 9 lin. long 
and 7 lin. broad, deltoid-ovate, very acute, minutely ciliate with 
simple thick hairs to their tips ; outer corona-lobes divided for 2 of 
the way down into 2 straight slender widely diverging teeth, 2-24 
lin. apart from tip to tip, pale yellow, dusted on the teeth and 
marked at the notch and base with a spot of dark crimson- 
brown; inner corona-lobes pale yellowish, dusted with crimson- 
brown, with the inner horn 2 lin. long, clavate, and the outer 
14 lin, long, erectly spreading, scarcely clavate. 
Ortary : a hybrid raised in Europe, cu’tivated specimens ! 
