330 



Plants and their JVays in South Africa 



anthers versatile, seeds endospermous. Capsule loculicidal, 

 seed solitary. Clanvvilliam, Swellendam. 



A shrub with opposite, ovate-cordate leaves and axillary 

 solitary flowers. Perianth membranous. The photograph, 

 Fig. 314, shows the oldest flowers at the top, the younger below. 



Order Thymel.«ace/e. 



Flowers perfect, with a long coloured tube and a 4-parted 

 calyx (sometimes 5). The petals are wanting, or possibly re- 

 presented by 2 or 8 scales at the throat of the long " calyx 

 tube " or hollow receptacle. The fruit is an achene, or a berry 



Fig. 315. — Stnithiola. (From Edmonds and Marloth's " Elementary Botany 

 for South Africa ''.) 



which fits so closely within the hollow receptacle that it looks 

 like an inferior ovary. The tube often breaks off just above 

 the ovary. Stamens as many or twice as many as sepals, borne 

 on the tube. 



