PLATE 388- 



SBCAMONE GEEEAEDI, Harv. (Harv. MSS.. Schlechter, Jour, of Bot. 1895, p. 353.) 



Natural Order, ASCLEPIADACEJ;. 



A slender wide climbing shrub with greenish yellow flowers. Stems and 

 branches terete, slender, green, glabrous. Leaves opposite, pt-tiolate, exstipulate, 

 narrow-oblong, acute at apex, tapering gradually to the short petiole, midrib con- 

 spicuous on both sides, dark green and glossy above, lighter and dull beneath ; If 

 to 2 inches long, 4 to 9 lines wide; petiole 1 to 1^ line long. Inflorescence 

 axillary, in few flowered cymes, peduncle and pedicels f inch long, very slender, 

 bracts minute, ovate, f line long. Calyx campanulate, 5-lobed, tube 2 lines long, 

 lobes linear-oblong, twisted to the right, spreading, 3 lines long. Coronal lobes 

 minute, linear, incurved. Stamens 5, from base of corolla, filaments adnate to the 

 dilated portion of the style, and terminated by fimbriate, membranous appendages 

 which overlap the stigma. Pollen masses 20, subglobose, attached in fours to the 

 pollen carriers, which are seated on the dilated portion of the style. Style dilated 

 in lower portion and produced beyond the dilated part into a 2-lobed appendage. 

 Follicles acuminate, each 4 inches long by ^ inch wide at base. 



Habitat : NATAL : Coast and midlands, common. 



The genus Secamone includes nearly 50 species, of which 3 are natives of 

 Natal, the remainder being found in tropical and subtropical regions of the Old 

 World, and adjacent islands. 8. Germrdi differs from all other species of the 

 genus by its much larger flowers, campanulate corolla tube, and longer gynostege. 

 It is not uncommon in coast and midlands, usually climbing over trees and shrubs 

 at edges of woods. 



This plant was first described by Professor Harvey, but the description does 

 not seem to have been published ; it was more lately described by Mr. R. Schlechter 

 in the Journal of Botany for 1895, page 353. 



Fig 1, flower, 2, calyx ; 3, corona, staminal column and style appendages; 

 4, coronal lobe; 5, stamen, inside view; 6, pollinia and carrier; 7, young follicles, 

 style and stigma with appendages ; 8, thickened portion of style, showing pollinia 

 attached; 9, follicles, natural size; 10, seed, natural size; except figs. 9 and 10 all 

 enlarged. 



