PLATE 390. 



SCHOTIA BBACHYPETALA, Sond. (Fl. Cap. Vol. II., p. 274.) 

 Natural Order, LEUUMINOS^E. 



A tiee reaching to 20 feet in height, glabrous in all parts, bearing clusters of 

 bright scarlet flowers which are frequently produced on the stem or branches. 

 Bark brown, rough. Leaves alternate, equally pinnate, leaflets in 4-5 opposite 

 pairs ; common petiole 3 to 4 inches long, swollen at base, petiolules scarcely 1 

 line long, a little swollen ; leaflets oblong, ovate-oblong or elliptical, unequal sided 

 at base, obtuse, emarginate or finely mncronulate at apex, dark green and shining 

 above, dull beneath ; f to 2^ inches long, ^ to 1| inch wide ; veins conspicuous 

 but not prominent ; stipules minute, soon deciduous. Inflorescence paniculate, the 

 panicles axillary, terminal, or often on the stem and large branches, peduncles 

 short, many flowered ; pedicels 2 to 3 lines long ; bracts ovate, deciduous. Calyx 

 gamosepalous, 4-lobed, f inch long, the lobes equalling the tube, tube conical, 

 lobes ovate, obtuse, erect. Petals 5, minute, 4 very minute, bristle-like, ^ to ly 

 line long, alternate with calyx lobes, 1 linear-spathulate, opposite a calyx lobe, 4^ 

 lines long, btarnens 10, alternate ones shorter, much exserted from calyx tube, 

 monadelphous, forming a cup a base. Ovary stipitate, the stalk adnate to calyx 

 tube, tubercular rugose on both margins, many seeded. Legume bark brown, 

 woody, margined, thickly covered with minute protuberances; 2 to 4 inches long, 

 several seeded ; seeds compressed, oblong, | inch long by 4 lines broad. 



Habitat: NATAL: Gueinzius; in sheltered valleys where soil is dry and rocky, 

 Sutherland; at 2000 feet alt, Sanderson; coastlands, September, Wood, 1367. 



Drawn and described from specimens gathered near Durban, October, 1905. 



A very handsome tree when in full flower, and well worth cultivation. The 

 figure in the Thesaurus Capensis, Vol I., p. 32, represents the minute petals as all 

 alike, but in the numerous fresh flowers examined by us they are as stated in the 

 text. The legumes that we examined were a year old and much damaged by 

 insects, they were 2 to 4-seeded and no arillus was noted. The wood is said to be 

 much like walnut, but closer in the grain, and a splendid furniture wood. Mr. 

 Bazley says of it : "I have several pieces of furniture made of it, and know it to 

 be a valuable wood. It contains a lot of tannin, and I call it African walnut." 

 He also says in another letter : " It is a splendid furniture wood, but bad to work 

 as the dust makes the eyes sore if it enters them. Takes a splendid polish, and if 

 unpolished gets much darker." 



Fig. 1, calyx ; 2, flower with sepals removed ; 3, a stamen ; 4, ovary ; 5, a 

 bract ; all enlarged. 



