PLATE 309. 



DALBBEGIA OBOVATA, B. Meyer (Fl. Cap. Vol. II., p. 265). 

 Natural Order, LEGUMINOSAE. 



A wide climbing unarmed shrub with white flowers. Bark greyish, glabrous. 

 Leaves alternate, unequally pinnate, exstipulate ; common petiole, 3 to 6 inches 

 long, brown velvetty, swollen at base. Leaflets 2 to 4 on each side, irregularly 

 alternate, oblong-ovate or obovate, margins entire, emarginate at apex, rounded at 

 base, dark green and shining above, pale and dull beneath ; 1^ to 4 inches long, 

 1 to 2 inches wide ; petioles 2 to 3 lines long, velvetty ; terminal leaflet similar to 

 the others, but a little larger, its petiole nearly an inch long, swollen in upper 

 portion. Inflorescence paniculate, the branches of tne panicle corymbose, velvetty 

 pubescent. Calyx gamosepalous, campanulate, 5-fid pubescent, 3 lines long, the 

 two upper teeth connate almost to apex, obtuse, lateral ones smaller, lowest longest, 

 acute. Corolla papilionaceous, white ; vexillum oblong, alae narrow oblong, carina 

 petals connate above, free below; all clawed. Stamens 10, monadelphous, 

 included, the staminal tube split to base ; anthers similar, ovate, 2-celled. Ovary 

 superior, stipitate, 2 ovuled, style short, stigma obtuse. Legume oblong or broadly 

 lanceolate, flat, acute or obtuse at apex, tapering at base to a short stipe, strongly 

 net-veined, rusty pubescent ; 1-| to 2 inches long, 6 to 7 lines wide, 1 or 2-seeded- 

 Seeds compressed, subreniform, brown, 3^ lines by 2. 



Habitat: NATAL: At margins of woods all over the colony. Inanda, Wood; 

 near Durban, 150 feet alt., Wood; Qudeni, Zululand, 6,000 feet alt., Navies, 

 No. 90. 



Drawn and described from plants gathered near Durban. 



A stout shrub, climbing by means of hooked depauperated twigs or branchlets, 

 it is often found in company with D. armata, which is described in " Natal Plants," 

 Vol. I., plate 79. It is easily distinguished from the other two South African 

 species by its larger and fewer leaflets. It is known to the natives as Manyenyaan 

 or Panhlas, and they calcine the bark and use the ashes for mixing with their 

 snuff. The galls shown in the drawing are very curious, and so far as we are 

 aware are found on this species only. 



j?ig. 1, flower; 2, calyx opened; 3, vexillum; 4, carina; 5, ala ; 6, staminal 

 tube opened; 7, ovary style and stigma; 8, legume; 9, ovule; 10, insect gall. 

 Fig. 8 natural sine, remainder all enlarged. 



