92 Stemless, succulent perennials, with a fleshy rootstoc-k, be- 

 cominP' divided into short brpnches at the tor^. Lepves opposite, 

 united at the base, arranged in dense rosettes of 3-5 pairs to a 

 growth, lanceolate, linear-lanceolate or ovate, acute, flat or 

 slightly concave on the face, often upcurved at the tip, keeled 

 on the back, often upcurved at the apical part, covered vdth slight- 

 ly raised dots or small pustules v/hich are often whitish, ^lowers 

 solitary b'^ the side of a new grov^th and so appearing axillary, 

 subsessile or very shortly r^edicellate, expanding in daytime. 

 Calyx subeoually 5-lobed down to its union with the ovary, some of 

 the lofees with membranous margins. Petrels numerous, free, in tv/o 

 series, all closely imbricating and v/idely sprep.ding in one plane. 

 Stemens numerous, collected into a broad cone v;hich is completely 

 exposed to view to its base, ^tigmas 7-10, filiform, nearly or quite 

 as long as the stamens. Oyptj inferior, flattish or slightly con- 

 ves on the top, vdth 7-10 rather shallow cells; placentas on the 

 floor or outer v.'all of the cells. Capsule half-globose, slightly 

 convex or flettish-convex on the top, the sutures slightly raised 

 to 8S to form a very short central cone, with 7-3.0 valves and ce^ls; 

 expanding-keels either contiguous, except at the fps, and ednete 

 for all their length and nearly as long as the valves, virith broad 

 marginal membrsnous wings that are not united in pairs between the 

 valves, or diverging from their base, not half as long as the valve, 

 but rvroduced into free av/ns reaching nearly to the tips of the valves 

 without marginal v;ings; cells open, without or vdth rudimentary 

 cell-wings that stand ouite erect back to back, and v/ithout a pla- 

 cental tubercle. Seeds either flat and thin, or almost winged, 

 somewhat half -moon-shaped and smooth, or subglobose vdth a small 

 nlant and microscoTDically tuberculate. — N^S.Bp.^ in The Gardeners' 

 Chronicle, 1925, LXXVIII, 433. Aloinopsis, Schwant., in i^eitschr. 

 f. SuVk., II, 17*7, and see N. S. Bp. in Journ. Bot., 1928, 78. 



A small genus of about 5 species, native of South -tifrica, the 

 type being N. vitatus, N. E. Bp, 



The name is derived from the Greek, nanos, dwarf, end anthos , 

 a flov:er, in allusion to the dwarf nature of these plants. 



In South African Gardening, 1929, p. 2^Ay an attempt has been 

 mede to uphold the generic name Aioinopsis, Schvrantes, and a con- 

 fused and" incomplete account of it given v/ithout descriptions of 

 or keys to the species, v.dthout citations and with illustrations 

 that are incorrectly names, end an application of the name Nananthus 

 in a sense the author of that genus never intended or indicated. 

 It is much to* be regretted that the article supon this group of 

 plants nuhlished in Soutb Africa and elsev/eher shoudl cause so 

 much confusion. They exhibit for the first time in the history of 

 botany a deliberate departure from the code of etiquette that has 

 hitherto been maintained and respected by all scientists, a code 

 that deems it an unseemly act for anothe to systematically antici- 

 pate the v;ork of a monogrcrher or other v/orker for the purpose of 

 claiming priority of authoriship, 



The upholding o^ Aioinopsis is contrary to all rules of nomencla- 

 ture, for it has been clearly &11 demonstrated in the '-'ournal of 

 Botany, 1928, p. 78, that i^loinopsis is an invalid genus, because i — 

 (1) It was founded by Schy/antes in -^eitschr. f. Sukk. , 1926, p. 

 177, upon the very same plants as those onwhich the r^-enus Uanant: us 

 had previousliY been founded. (2) T^e generic characters ascribed 

 to the fruit do not belong to any plant mentioned by Schvfantes as 

 belonging to the genus. 13) The species (^%semb. rosulatum, 



