CONSPECTUS TABULARUM, 53 
tensive genus Astragalus found in the south temperate zone of the old 
world. Several occur in America, to the south of the equator. 
Fig. 1, Astragalus Burkeanus ; the natural size. Fig. 2, the calyx laid open; 3, 
the diadelphous stamens; 4, cross section of the ovary; 5, an ovule; all magnified, 
LXXXIII. PLECTRANTHUS PURPURATUS, Harv.  (Ladiate.) 
P. purpuratus: caule herbaceo carnoso tenuissime puberulo, foliis 
petiolatis ovatis obtusis basi vix cuneatis carnosis glaberrimis vel mi- 
croscopice puberulo-velutinis, subtus Jaete-purpureis obtusissime crenatis, 
floralibus minutis, racemo simplice, verticillastris laxe sexfloris, calycis 
dente supremo ovato acuto inferioribus subulatis, corolla puberula calyce 
vix duplo longiori tubo basi saccato. 
Has.—Port Natal, Mr. Vance. Cult. at Kew. (Herb. T. C. D.) 
Drscr.—Stem herbaceous, 12-14 inches high, branching, succulent 
and brittle, quadrangular. eaves in subdistant, decussating pairs, pa- 
tent, on petioles 4—5 lines long, ovate or subrotund, obtusely or obsoletely 
crenate. The surface is microscopically puberulous, the down being 
more obvious in the dry than in the living specimen. The under sur- 
face of the leaves isarich purple. The flowers are small and pale. 
Corolla wavy. 
Figured and described from a plant cultivated at Kew, raised from 
Natal seeds. 
Fig. 1, Plectranthus purpuratus ; the natural size. Fig. 2, the calyx ; 3, the same 
laid open; 4, a flower; 5, a corolla laid open, showing the stamens on the tube; 6, a 
stamen ; variously magnified. 
LXXXIV. DISA MELALEUCA, Thunb. ( Orchidee.) 
D. melaleuca: foliis radicalibus pluribus lineari-lanceolatis acutis 
canaliculatis, caulinis numerosis acuminatis patulis vaginantibus, co- 
rymbo dense multifloro, galea obtuse-umbonata ecalcarata, sepalis ovato- 
oblongis patentibus planis subtus carinatis vix mucronulatis, petalis 
oblongis concavis basi et apice denticulatis, labello lineari-oblongo api- 
culato basi utrinque obsolete dentato. Thunb. Fl. Cap. p. 16; Pen- 
thea melaleuca, Lindl. Sp. Orch. p. 361. 
Haxs.—About Table Mountain, and the Hex River, Thunberg. Dutoits kloofsberg, 
and Cederbergen, Drege! Near Cape Point, Sir John Herschel, Bt.! Table Mountain, 
W. H. H., Ecklon & Zeyher! (Herb. T. C. D., &e.) 
Descr.—Stem 6-8 inches high, densely leafy to the summit ; ending 
in a broad and very flat, many flowered corymb. Flowers horizontally 
patent ; the wide-spreading sepals and reflexed galea brilliant white ; 
the petals and labellum black and velvety. Anther reclinate. 
A very pretty, and not uncommon species. Lindley’s genus Pen- 
thea, to which this belongs, merely differs from Disa by the absence of 
