25 



PLATE 248. 



GNIDIA OVALIFOLIA, Meisn. (in Linnaea, XIV. (1840) 455). 

 Natural Order, THYMELEACE.E. 



A diffuse undershrub 4 to 10 feet in height. Bark dark brown. Branches 

 long and slender, densely pilose, especially the younger parts. Leaves opposite, 

 petiolate, exstipulate, ovate to ovate-oblong, acute at apex, tapering to base, 

 margins quite entire ; pubescent on upper surface, much more densely so beneath; 

 1 to 2^ inches long, ^ to 1 inch wide ; petioles 1 to 3 lines long. Inflorescence 

 in short few flowered terminal racemes. Flowers yellow. Perianth tube cylin- 

 drical, jointed above the ovary, the upper portion at length falling away ; 6 to 8 

 lines long ; lobes 4, erect or patent, ovate, obtuse, minutely pilose externally, 1^ 

 line long. Glands or scales 8, in pairs on throat of tube at sinuses, connate with 

 each other at base, alternate with perianth lobes. Stamens 8, in two rows, included, 

 one row just below throat the other a little lower down the tube ; filaments very 

 short, anthers oblong, 2-celled Ovary free, pilose with very long, erect white 

 hairs; 1 -celled, 1-ovuled. Style slender, terete ; stigma laterally compressed. Nut 

 dry, enclosed in the persistent base of the perianth tube. 



Habitat : NATAL : Coast and midlands, usually at edges of woods. Inanda, 

 1,800 feet alt., December, Wood No. 332; near Durban, i 50 feet alt., January, 

 Wood No. 8024. 



Drawn and described from the Durban specimens. 



The genus Gnidia is exclusively an African one, two or three species accord- 

 ing to the Genera Plantarum are found in Tropical, and nearly or quite 40 in 

 South Africa, and by far the larger number of these are found in Transvaal, Cape 

 and Orange River Colonies, not more than three or four having as yet been iden- 

 tified in Natal. We are not able to learn the native name for the above described 

 species, nor do they appear to use it in any way. The generic name is said to be 

 an ancient name for the Laurel. 



Fig. 1, flower; 2, perianth opened ; 3, ovary, style and stigma; all enlarged. 



