PLATE 323. 



CRASSTJLA PALLIDA, Baker. (Gard. Citron. (1874), 1, 786). 

 Natural Order, ORASSULACEAE. 



A low undershrub, with white flowers. Stems short, erect, terete, marked 

 with scars of fallen leaves, reaching to 6 inches or more long. Leaves connate, 

 broadly linear, obtuse, thick, fleshy ; 3 to 6 inches long, f to 1 inch broad, 3 to 5 

 lines think, glabrous, both surfaces minutely papillose ; pale green. Inflorescence 

 corymbose, much branched, with a pair of lanceolate bracts at ench fork, peduncles 

 and pedicels densely pilose with white hairs, as also are the bracts and depau- 

 perated leaves on the lower portion of the peduncle. Calyx sub-campanulate, 5- 

 lobed, lobes erect, linear-oblong, obtuse, longer than tube, the whole calyx 2 lines 

 long ; densely clothed with white, erect hairs. Corolla deeply 5-lobed, lobes oblong, 

 reflexed, obtuse at apex; 3 lines long, white. Stamens 5, alternate with and a 

 little shorter than the corolla lobes ; filaments compressed ; anthers 2-celled, basi- 

 fixed. Squamae minute, sub-quadrangular, yellow. Carpels 5, oblong, acuminate, 

 minutely glandular. Follicles many seeded. 



Habitat : NATAL : Natal and Zululand. Midland districts. Inanda 1,800 feet 

 alt., June, Wood, No. 598 ; Umbumbulu 1,000 to 2,000 feet alt., August, Wood, 

 No. 6479 ; Zululand, July, Wood. 



Drawn and described from plants grown in Botanic Gardens, Durban, which 

 were brought from Zululand. 



This plant is not uncommon in the midlands of Natal. It is a stiff-looking 

 plant, the leaves being erect and thick ; the flowers are small and unattractive, and 

 the plant is of no special value. The only name that the natives appear to have 

 for it is one which they apply to quite a number of plants, namely, in-Telezi, mean- 

 ing I understand a plant which, on account of its succulent nature, does not easily 

 die. It does not appear in the " Flora Capensis." 



Fig. 1 , flower ; 2, portion of corolla opened ; 3, carpels and squamae ; all 

 enlarged. 



