i CONSPECTUS TABULARUM. 2 
‘ oe: 
Bowxer) ; who have both contributed largely to our knowledge of the 
plants of the Eastern frontier, and to whom I am indebted for many 
interesting specimens, several of which will be figured as this work 
proceeds. : 
Fig. 1, Bowkeria triphylla; the natural size. Fig. 2, the calyx; 3, corolla laid 
open, to show the stamens; 4, anther; 5, ovary and style; 6 and 7, sections of ovaries : 
all enlarged. 
= 
XXXVI. THUNBERGIA NATALENSIS, Hook. (Acanthacea.) 
T. Natalensis: erecta, glabriuscula, foliis cordato-ovatis acutis 
breve-petiolatis 3-5 nerviis repando-denticulatis supra glabris subtus 
adnervos setulosis, pedunculis axillaribus solitariis unifloris folio-bre- 
vioribus, bracteis oblongo-ovatis acutis subtrinerviis reticulatis, corolle 
tubo flavo bracteas superante, limbo ceruleo, calycis dentibus 5 latis 
triangularibus obtusis incurvis, antheris basi cornutis, stylo superne di- 
latato in stigmate concavo triangulari expanso. Hook. Bot. Mag. tab. 
Haxs.—On the skirts of clumps of bush, 600-2500 feet, extending from near D’Ur- 
ban to Townhill, Mauritzberg, Mr. Sanderson. (Herb. T. C. D.) 
Duscr.—Stemshrubby at base, 2 or more feet high, furrowed, nearly 
glabrous. Leaves 3-4 inches long, 2-24 wide, patent or deflexed, on 
petioles +2 inch long, more or less deeply cordate at base, deep green 
above, paler beneath, subentire or obsoletely repando-dentate: the nerves 
underneath strigose. Peduncles 14 inches long. Bracts 2 inch long, 
4 lines wide, netted with veins. Calyx minute, shorter than the disc. 
Tube of the nodding corolla 14 inch long, trumpet-shaped, tumid under- 
neath, pale yellow; limb sky-blue, 5-lobed, spreading. Style expand- 
ing at the summit into a hollow, cornucopix-shaped stigma. 
Our figure, taken from wild specimens, has more distant leaves, 
longer petioles, and smaller flowers than are represented by Hooker, 
whose beautiful plate was drawn from plants that flowered in an English 
hothouse. 
Fig. 1, Thunbergia Natalensis, the natural size. Fig. 2, the involucre of two bracts ; 
3, astamen; 4, ovary, in its disc, and the dilated style: enlarged. 
sovereign remedy to drive away care. And often my two little boys would say :— 
‘Mamma, shall we ask papa to have the waggon inspanned to go to another place, for there 
are no more new wild flowers here?’ So you see, anything I can do to assist you, by 
collecting plants, is only repaying the debt of gratitude I owe you for value received.” 
I trust I violate no confidence in thus printing part of a lady's letter, which I do, because 
it happily illustrates the power of botany to afford interesting amusement and occupation 
when shut out from society and from ordinary pursuits. How many unemployed hours 
of a forced or voluntary bush life are tediously spent, which might be pleasantly and 
usefully filled up, if the mind were imbued with Natural History tastes ! When the ob- 
serving faculties have been once roused and directed to natural objects or phenomena, the 
taste for recording observations and collecting specimens quickly follows, and the late 
victim of ennui, now “all eye, all ear,” finds that time no longer lags, but runs only too 
quickly away. Iam happy tosay that I have made more than one 8. African “convert, 
but if my little book had produced no other result than the pleasure it has afforded to 
my excellent correspondent, and the interesting specimens she has contributed for what 
she calls “ value received,” I should consider myself amply repaid. 
