76 



A handsome climber bearing large flowers which are bright blue in the morn- 

 ing fading to deep pink in the evening, or soon after being gathered. The genus 

 Ipomcea is a large one including 3-400 species which are found in both tropical 

 and temperate countries, none, however, being native of Europe. The roots and 

 stems of I. congesta are used by the natives as an aperient medicine, and they call 

 the plant i-Jalapa, but the true medicinal Jalap is obtained from I. purgans a 

 native of Mexico, whether the above described plant will be fitted to take its place 

 remains yet to be proved. Specimens of stems and roots have been sent Home 

 for analysis. I. congesta is also a native of Australia. Several species of Ipomoea 

 have similar properties, and others yield edible tubers, the common Sweet Potato 

 being the tuber of I. Batatas, Poir. 



Fig. 1, Stem with leaves and flowers, natural size ; 2, Corolla opened ; 3, Calyx, 

 two sepals removed showing ovary, style and stigma; 4, Section through ovary; all 

 enlarged. 5, Capsule in situ ; natural size. 



PLATE 94- 



KALANCHOE ROTUNDIFOLIA, Harv. 

 Natural Order, CKASSULACEJ:. 



An herbaceous plant with red flowers. Roots fibrous. Stem simple, or 

 occasionally branching, terete, glabrous, green with indistinct greyish markings, 

 1-4 feet high, usually leafy in central portion only. Leaves opposite, decussate, 

 petiolate, exstipulate, roundish-obovate, broadly oblanceolate, or spathulate, entire 

 or crenulate, tapering at base to a flattened petiole, glabrous, thick and fleshy ; 2-' 

 inches long including the short petiole, becoming gradually smaller and more 

 distant upwards, the uppermost pair oblanceolate, and much smaller. Inflorescence 

 cymose, the cymes simple, or twice or thrice branched, flat topped, the common 

 peduncle ^3 inches long, secondary ones ^ inch long, pedicels -J-3 lines long ; sub- 

 glaucous. Corolla urceolate, the tube much swollen and sub-quadrangular in lower 

 portion, strongly contracted above, limb 4-cleft, lobes oblong, acute, 

 spreading, twisted in bud and after flowering, persistent, the whole corolla \ inch 

 long, the tube 2 lines wide at base, f line in narrow portion, bright red in upper 

 part, gradually becoming green towards base. Stamens 8, in two rows ; on corolla 

 tube, all antheriferous. Filaments 3-4 times as long as the anthers. Anthers 

 small, 2-celled, introrse, subsagittate. Carpels 4, compressed, rounded and bluntly 

 keeled on outer surface, many seeded. Hypogynous scales 4, strap shaped, about 

 half as long as the carpel, yellow. Styles subulate. Stigmas subglobose. Seeds 

 minute, numerous. Follicles membranaceous, many seeded. 



Habitat : NATAL : Edges of bush and open places in coast and midland districts. 

 Inanda, Wood No. 236. 



Drawn and described from specimens gathered near Durban, May, 1899. 



In the description of this plant in the Flora Capensis Vol. 2, page 379, it is 

 stated that Professor Harvey appears to be uncertain whether this is Haworth's 

 plant or not, and we have no other description with which to compare it, but 

 Wood's No. 236 was certified at Kew as being K. rotundifolia, and it is identical 

 with the plant from which we have described, except in size, Wood's being a small 

 specimen, but the plant differs much in this respect according to the locality in 

 which it is grown. The natives do not seem to have any distinctive name for it, 

 nor is it of any economic value. 



