128 LIX. CUCURBITACES. 
stem and foliage are glabrous. Branchlets slender, angular. Tendrils long, 
2-fid. Leaves petioled, cordate, quite entire, 5—7-nerved at base, membra- 
nous, mucronate. Flowers small; the males on long pedicels, in subum- 
bellate fascicles.—This very remarkable plant is named in honour of W. T. 
Gerrard, Esq., who collected it in May, 1862, on the Nonoti, and to whom 
I am indebted for specimens of male and female flowers and ripe seeds. 
For several years Mr. Gerrard* has devoted himself, with an ardour which 
repeated attacks of fever and repeated thwartings from the unruly conduct 
and superstition of the natives have not abated, to the exploration of the 
natural history ‘of Zululand; and the pages of ‘ Flora Capensis’ and of 
‘ Thesaurus Capensis,’ so far a8 published, bear ample witness to his success 
in botanical discovery. He has also, in conjunction with Mr. M‘Ken, most 
generously contributed nearly 2000 species of dried plants to the Dublin 
University Herbarium. I have, therefore, peculiar pleasure in inscribing 
this genus to his honour. Asa genus it will stand next to Alsomitra, Wall., 
but it differs in habit and foliage, as well as in several characters of flowers 
and fruit. My friend Professor Decaisne, who has succeeded in raising 
young plants at the Jardin des Plantes, joins me in the specific name se- 
lected. The seedlings, after forming a few leaves, have already acquired 
tubers as large as a pigeon’s egg. 
Orper LX. BEGONIACE. 
Flowers moncecious.—Male: Perianth 4-leaved, coloured. 
Stamens many ; anthers adnate, with a thickened connective. 
—Female: Perianth with a 3-winged tube, adnate to the ovary, 
and a 4-9-parted, coloured limb. Ovary inferior, 3-celled, 
with many axile ovules; stigmas 3, subsessile, fleshy. Cap- 
sules 3-winged, membranous, opening by slits; seeds nume- 
rous, without albumen.—Herbs, with swollen nodes, juicy 
stems and unequal-sided leaves, with membranous stipules. 
1. BEGONIA, Linn. 
Capsules opening by arched or longitudinal slits along the 
face of the cells. Placentas from the imner angle of the 
ovarian cells.— Fl. Cap. 11. p. 480. 
A large genus, chiefly American and Asiatic. Leaves alternate, petioled, 
palmate-nerved, subentire, toothed or lobed, unequal-sided, frequently 
semicordate at base, often scaly and brightly coloured on the lower surface. 
Flowers cymose, mostly pink or rosy.—About 5 South African species, all 
Eastern and from Natal. 
Orver LXI. CACTEZ. 
Flowers bisexual. Perianth many-leayed, imbricating, its 
tube adnate to the ovary. Stamens indefinite. Ovary inferior, 
* Since the above was written, Mr. Gerrard left Natal upon a scientific 
expedition into the interior of Madagascar, where he died of fever in 1866. 
—dJ, D. H, 
