34 from this living plant, but all the rest of the description is 

 made from a type specimen of I.'ichrysoleucum, which has been so 

 crushed in Dressing that the stem and leaves do not show their 

 true form. 5'ig. 12 p. 25 represents the plant Just commencing to 

 produce its leaves, and S'ig. 13 p. 27 the same plant when in flow- 

 er 



N. E. Broi.vn 

 (To be continued.) 



^ESSI,TBRYAlN^^HSiim:. 

 Gard. Ghron. HI. 86: 208. 1929. 

 (Continued from, page 34.) 



MITROPHYLLUI;^ , Schwan t . 



i08 Shrublets or rarely stemless perennials, of remarkable habit. 

 Stems all v;ith distinct internodes, or vdth internodes only developed 

 on the flov.'ering stems, the vegetative shoots then being vrithout 

 developed internodes. or in two species (of one of v;hich the flov;-er 

 and fruit is unknovm) apparently entirely stemless. Leaves oppo- 

 site, tv.'o pairs only produced at the first pair free except at the 

 very base, flat above, rounded or keeled on the back; the second 

 pair united from a third part to nearly all of their length into a 

 conical or rarely cylindrical body, minutely crystr-lline-papiilose, 

 especially at the tins, ^lowers solitary or developing to lax cymes 

 when in fruit, terminal, pedicillate, v/ith or without bracts. Cgiyx 

 sub-equally 5-lobed to its union with the ovary. Petals numerous, 

 free, in 3 or 4 series, lineer, S-^amens numerous, erect, in a column. 

 Stigmes 5-7, subulate. Oyst^t inferior, v.-ith 5-7 sutural ridges on 

 the flet top and 5-7 valves end cells; expanding-keels usually di- 

 verging;' from, the base, with incurved tips, sometimes sub-parallel, 

 broad and flet, with the inner edge raised, ivith membranous mar- 

 gins; cells shallovr, v.dth or without membranous cell-wings, '^eeds 

 ovoid or Pear-shaped. — Schwantes in -^eitschrfit f. ■^ukkulenten- 

 kunde, 1926, v. 181. Cononhvllum, Schv;antes, in the same volume, 

 p. 321. ' .^ 



Species several, natives of ^ittle Namqualelnd. -"^or the type 

 of the genus see later. 



'^e name is derived from the Greek, mitra , a mitre, and phyllon, 

 a leaf, in allusion to the shape of the united pairs of leaves, 



IHe plants comprising this genus are among the most remarkable 

 of flov/ering plants, and very interesting on account of their veg- 

 etative peculiarity. When in a state of rest each growth or branch 

 ter-iinetes in a conicpl or rarely cylindric, fleshy body, '-ithin 

 this cone, during the months of rest, s pair of leaves, free al- 

 most to the base, is being developed, quite invisibly, at the ex- 

 pense of the tissue of the cone, until finally the substrnce of 

 the latter is all absorbed, except a thin skin that covers end conceals 

 the leaves inside. When the growing period arrives, these leaves 

 burst the skin, increase in size, and spread widely, and from be- 

 tv/een them arises another pair of leaves united for P'^rt or nearly 

 the v.ihole of their length into a cone or cylinder. -^his cone is 

 sometimes suprorted uPon an internode of stem and sometimes sessile 

 betv.'een the spreading leaves, and v:hen the dry season comes the 

 latter wither and dry up, and the cone persists, to repeat the de- 

 velopement above described. 



