172 nited into a solid body, or the unequal leaves more vddelj; separ- 

 ated and sprepdiner, but still united ct the lower p- ••". -Ic- ors 

 pedicillete, bractless, v/ith the overy usually exst. he 



"fissure. Cslyx 6-lobed dovn to the top of the ovary, iet;;: 

 numerous, free. Stamens numerous, erect, ^tig'iass 6-7, pluiuw^^c 

 or filiform. Ovary inferior, 6-7 celled; placentas on the outer 

 ^■'6 11 or floor of the cells. Capsule broadly obconic, convex at 

 the top, vdth 6-7 valves and ceils; ■" "^ ■'^ss with t':eir expanding 

 keels divergini'^ from near their baa _ .." shorter than the valve, 

 but when broad, membranous,- obtuse laarginal wings produced nearly 

 or quite to the tir of the valve.. Cells roofed v/ith flexible 

 membranous cell-wings, ^-ithout a tubercle very small, ovoid, v/ith 

 a ni'^^le at one end.-- Haworth, -'^evis. fl. ^ucc, p. 1C4, and 

 r."^. Brown in The Gardeners' Chronicle, 1922, vol. LX::i, p. 129, 



Snecies 11, natives of the Kgroo region and apparently chief- 

 1;'^ of the IClein (Little) I^^^roo ,of 36uth Africa, the" type of the 

 rerus beiniP; G, r.ubescens, ^'.^.^r. 



The name is derived from the Lgting, p^ibba , a hump, in allus- 

 ion to the rrolong- tion into a hump of the back of the larger of 

 the two le~"^'-^~ o-^ — v 1 0^ the bod37" or gro-'-th is conT^osed, forming 

 -•'hat ppr- of the gro- " . 



This -a^-.us is easily distinguished froiu iuesembr-yanthemuia and 

 all other allied genera except Conophytun by its peculiar vege- 

 tative character, and from the former by its stigmas, constantly 

 6-7-celled ovary, 6-lobed calyx, and the 2-edged pedicels of its 

 less riei-^ fruit. From Conophytum (for which genus I formerly 

 "dstook one species v^hose flov-ers I had not seen) the free pet- 

 als and the presence of cell-wings roofing the cells of the 

 c^'^sule, readily distinguish it. 



I'y former account of this genus was published in The 

 Gardeners* Chronicle, 1922, vol. ISXl, pp". 129 and 151, at a time 

 when very little was knovm of it in Europe, and I had then seen 

 no flwers of any spec3es belong to it. Since thenone species 

 has flov/ered here at Kew, and I am indebted to Dr. ^'. I-^uir for 

 flowers of six other species that he has recently sent to me for 

 examination, from v^ich it vrould appear that the flowers of £ 11 

 the species of this genus exude a considerable quantity of" nectar, 

 which covers the whole surface of the top of the ovary and is also 

 on the stigmas. I have also had more on^o^-tunit;,'- of studying 

 sor-:e of the srecies under cultivation, the result being that I 

 be] ieve that Haworth's srecies as described there have not all 

 been correctly understood. G, pubescens as there described by 

 me is undoubtedly the plant Kaworth called ^'^esembryanthemum 

 rubescens. But V'ith reference to his ^■'-. gibbosum, ^•'. perviride 

 and ^\ luteoviride, I am doubtful if these species are correctly 

 understood in "furore. On p.^151 above quoted, I illustrated 0. 

 perviride and G. gibbosum. The plant T*figured as G. pervirides 

 here i^roduced (J'ig ai, ) I had cultivated for xaenj years under 

 that name, ■'•'''^-ich ^ belive --as the name under that naiae , which I 

 believe wps the name sent with it from -^outh --f rica , and as it 

 aerreed fair"''"' ^"ell vrith ^^aworth's description I accepted it as 

 beinr correct. 



^ig. 81. — Gibbaeum gibbosum. 



(From^ a dra"lng. ) 



