PLATE 840. 



THUNBBEGIA PONDOENSIS, Lindau. (Fl. Cap. Vol. V., p. 9.) 

 Natural Order, AOANTHAOB^S. 



A slender climber with pure white flowers. Stems pubescent. Leaves oppo- 

 site, petiolate, exstipulate, entire, acute or obtuse, cordate or hastate at base, 5- 

 veined, hirsute on the veins beneath, scabrid above, reaching to 2^ inches long by 

 1 wide. Flowers axillary, solitary, pedunculate, enclosed between two opposite, 

 ovate, veiny, ciliate bracteoles, 5 to 8 lines long, white. Calyx gamosepalous, tube 

 very short, limb of 1 2 linear, erect, greenish white glandular lobes, 1 to 2 lines 

 long. Corolla gamopetalous, white, tube cylindrical in lower portion, then 

 gradually widening to throat and laterally compressed, tinged with yellow internally; 

 limb 5-lobed, lobes obcordate, subregular, spreading or reflexed, equalling the tube, 

 reaching to 1 inch in diameter. Stamens 4, inserted on lower portion of the tube, 

 filaments filiform, with fine hairs at the point of insertion ; anthers 2-celled, some 

 but not all spurred, and with a tuft of moniliform hairs at base, occasionally one 

 cell only spurred, connective produced beyond the cells ; pollen globose, smooth. 

 Ovary oblong, seated on an annular disk, style filiform, glabrous, 2-lobed, the lower 

 lobe a little flattened, and recurved, the upper semi-funnel-shaped, erect. Capsule 

 rostrate, seated in the calyx, and subtended by the persistent leafy bracts, loculici- 

 dally dehiscing, 2-celled, cells 2-seeded, seeds hemispherical, ripe seeds not seen. 



Habitat: NATAL: Zululand, near Bntumeni, 2-3000 feet alt, May, Wood, No. 

 4015 ; Ngoya, Zululand, 1-2000 feet alt, April, Wylie (Wood, No. 8478) ; near Dur- 

 ban, Bachman, No. 1 265. Also in Pondoland. 



Drawn and described from plants brought from Zululand by Mr. Wylie (Wood, 

 No. 8478) and cultivated in Botanic Gardens, Durban. 



This plant comes very near to T. angulata, a native of Madagascar. We have 

 not seen this species, the chief differences according to the Flora Capensis being 

 in the shape of the leaves, and the absence of hairs between the veins. It does 

 not appear to be a very common plant in Natal, or it has perhaps been confused 

 with T. Dregeana (Natal Plants, Vol. TIL, plate 280), especially as in the Flora 

 Capensis the flowers of T. Dregeana are said to be white. In our specimens they 

 are always yellow or buff, and those of T. pondoensis are always white ; in general 

 appearance the plants are very similar. This plant is not distinguished from 

 T. Dregeana by the natives and is used for the same purposes. 



Fig. 1, calyx and ovary; 2, base of corolla opened showing insertion of 

 stamens ; 3, portion of style with stigma ; 4, stamen ; 5, ovary and disk ; 6, 

 capsule ; all enlarged. 



