XUTES ON THE GENUS MY STROP ETALON HAR\'. 

 ( BALANOPHORACE.E) . 



By Rudolf Marloth, M.A., Ph.D. 



{IV Uh one text figure.) 



The Balanophorace^e (order Santalales) form a family of 

 root parasites of about 40 species, which occur in various parts of 

 the world. The}- are all very remarkable i)lants. with regard to 

 their general appearance as well as their tioral strticture, and 

 the representatives of the various countries differ from each 

 other very considerably in both respects. There are two genera 

 in SotUh Africa, viz., Sarcophyte in the Eastern Province ( 5^. 

 sanguinca) and Mystropetaloii in the West. 



When Harvey established the gentis Alystro petal on in 1839 

 he distinguished two species, naming them ilf. Thowii and M. 

 Polemanni. In 1913 Professor Harvey-Gibson (Liverpool) gave 

 a full account of the genus, together with an exhaustive study 

 of the anatomy and morphology of the underground as well as the 

 aerial organs of the plants. As, however, the specimens which he 

 had received from Mrs. Julia F. Solly (Knorhoek. near Sir 

 Lowry's Pass) did not qtiite agree with the descri])tions and illus- 

 trations of the two species as published by Harvey, and as no type 

 specimens of Harvey's appear to exist (there are none in Harvey's 

 herbarium at Dublin, nor in the Government herbarivtm at Cape- 

 town), the author established a third species, naming it M. SoUyi. 



Since then specimens of Mysiropetalon were repeatedly sent 

 here by correspondents who wanted to have them named. It was 

 during the attempts to do so that I realized the unsatisfactory con- 

 dition of otu- knowledge of the morphological characters of these 

 plants and the desirability of further investigation. 



In the recently published second part of Voltuiie \', Section 

 II of the " Flora Capensis " (1915), C. H. Wright (p. 214) selects 

 two characters in which, according to their authors, the three 

 species most prominently differ from each other, viz.. the shape 

 of the anterior bract of the male flower and the shape and margin 

 of the female perianth, thus obtaining the following combinations : 



1. Male bra'ct oblong; perianth subglobose, shortly trilobed 

 {M. Thomii). 



2. Bract spathulate; perianth tubular, trifid (J/. Pole- 

 manni.). 



3. Bract spathulate ; perianth subglobose or campanulate, 

 mtiltifid (M. Sollyi.). 



The fourth combination, viz., " Bract oblong; perianth tubu- 

 lar," has not been described or named as yet, but it so hajjpens 

 that just this form has been figured in Marloth, " Flora of S.A." 

 Tab. 40, as M. Thomii. If the other three combinations are speci- 

 fically distinct, then the fourth one would have to be recognised 

 as well, and, following the example of the other cases, to be named 



