78 



third longer than sepals. Stamens 15, shortly connate at base, arid after- 

 wards cohering in 5 parcels, each parcel opposite a petal, the central stamen of each 

 parcel usually, but not always the longest. Anthers ovate, 2 celled, introrse. 

 Ovary of 5 one seeded carpels cohering round an awl shaped torus, to which their 

 styles adhere, separating at maturity. Stigmas 5, filiform, spreading or recurved. 

 Carpels 5, pilose, 4 to 5 lines long, tails 1^ to If inches long, with long bristles at 

 base within, the bristles gradually shorter upwards, hispid externally. 



Habitat : NATAL : Uplands, to 5-6,000 feet above the sea-level. Weenen 

 County, December, Wood 3,507 ; Charlestown, March, Wood 6,311. 



Drawn and described from the Charlestown specimens. 



The above described plant and M. ovata, Cav. have been known for a long 

 time as remedies for diarrhoea and dysentery, and have lately been more promi- 

 nently brought into notice in consequence of a paper in the " Lancet " by Dr. 

 Maberly, M.K.C.S., in which he gives a tabular statement of 100 cases treated with 

 a tincture of this plant, or of M. ovata, and in which he was successful in nearly 

 every case. In response to a request from England a quantity of the plants equal 

 to a sack full were sent to England, having been collected near Charlestown by 

 Mr. J. M. Wood, and we are now informed that the plant is under trial in the 

 military hospitals in India, but no report as to its success or otherwise has 

 reached us. 



The genus Monsonia includes 12 or 13 species, most of which are found in 

 S. Africa, some, including the above named one, reaching to Tropical Africa, others 

 to N. Africa, and one is found in Tropical Asia. 



Fig. 1, Plant natural size; 2, Section through flower; 3, Staminal tube 

 opened ; 4, Stamen ; , Stamens and style, calyx and corolla removed ; 6, Carpels 

 in situ ; 7, Carpel detaching ; 8, Cross section of ovary ; all enlarged. 



PLATE 97. 



MONSONIA OVATA, Cav. var biflora, E. & Z. 

 Natural Order, 



Erect from a woody root. Stems slender, sparingly branching, terete, more 

 or less pilose with long white hairs, sometimes conspicuously so ; 4 to 15 inches 

 long. Leaves crowded at nodes, or in false whorls, petiolate, stipulate, oblong or 

 linear-oblong, finely and sharply toothed or sub-entire, acute or obtuse at apex, 

 tapering to both ends, usually entire in lower portion, pubescent or pilose, veins 

 conspicuous beneath ; 11 to If inches long, 1 to ^ inch wide, in the dried state 

 folded together. Petiole slender, \ to f inch long, pubescent. Stipules subulate, 

 several together, pubescent, 2 to 5 lines long. Peduncles solitary, axillary and 

 terminal, 4-bracteate in the middle, 1 or 2 flowered, peduncles and pedicels slender, 

 1 to 2f inches or more long. Sepals 5, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, with a long 

 bristle-like mucro, pilose with long white hairs, erect ; \ inch or more long. Petals 

 5, free, hypogynous, imbricate, very delicate in texture, white with fine, dark 

 veins, nearly or quite twice as long as sepals. Stamens 1 5, shortly connate at 

 base, and afterwaids cohering in 5 parcels of 3, each opposite a petal. Ovaries, 

 carpels, and styles like those of M. biflora. (Plate 96.) 



