PLATE 380. 



HEBENSTBEITIA POLTSTACHYA, Harv. MSS. (Fl. Cap. Vol. V., p. 98.) 

 Natural Order, SELAGINE^:. 



An erect much branched undershrub, reaching to 6 feet high. Branches 

 pubescent, the hairs in broad decurrent lines from node to node. Leaves fascicled, 

 petiolate, very irregular in size, f to 3 inches long including the short petiole, 

 lanceolate, acute, margins closely and sharply serrate, except near the base of the 

 leaf, glabrous. Inflorescence spicate, the spikes many flowered, elongating. 

 Bracts ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 2^ to 3 lines long ; calyx ovate oblong, obtuse, 

 membranaceous, 2-nerved, 1^- to 1^ line long, enclosed by the bract and adnate to 

 it at the base. Corolla 4 to 5 lines long, cleft in front to below the middle, limb 

 4-lobed, the two central lobes narrower than the outer, the short tube cylindrical. 

 Stamens 4, didynamous, inserted on margin of divided corolla tube, filaments 

 short, anthers 1 -celled, linear-oblong. Ovary oblong, 2-celled. Style terminal, 

 filiform, obtuse. Fruit small, oblong, enclosed by the calyx or between the calyx 

 and the large bract, 2-celled, cells I -seeded, one cell often abortive. 



Habitat: NATAL: Tugela River, Gerrard, 376; Umvoti district in a swamp, 

 Gerrard, 1248; Noodsberg, 2500 feet alt, Wood, 104; near Enon, Wood; Murchi- 

 son, 1800 feet alt, Wood, 301 ; near Newcastle, Rehmann, 7032 ; Oliver's Hoek 

 sources of Tugela River, 5000 feet alt, Allison ; in marshes near Richmond, 3000 

 feet alt, Schlechter, 6730; and without precise locality, Cooper, 1150. 



In Vol I. of this work under plate 67 it was stated that there are 18 species 

 included in the genus Hebenstreitia ; since that time the part of the Flora 

 Capensis containing the Order Selagineae has been published, and several species 

 are added, bringing the number of known species to 31, of which 30 are South 

 African, one of which is also found in Abyssinia, and one other only known from 

 tropical Africa. 



Of the 30 South African species 7 are found in Natal, the remainder in the 

 (Jape and Orange River Colonies, Transvaal and Pondoland. H. polystachya is 

 the tallest and most luxuriant of the Natal species. There appears to have been 

 some doubt as to the colour of the flowers of this species ; I have seen them pure 

 white, and also like H. comosa with reddish markings, but I think from recollec- 

 tion that the red colour is paler in this species than in H. comosa. 



Fig 1 , calyx and bract ; 2, corolla ; 3, a stamen ; 4, pistil ; 5, cross section 

 of young ovary ; 6, cross section of capsule showing abortive cells ; all enlarged. 



