PLATE 391. 



CTBTANTHUS OBLIQUUS, Ait (PI. Cap. Vol. VI., p. 219.) 

 Natural Order, AMAETLLIDEJ:. 



Bulb ovoid 2 to 4 inches diameter, tunics brown, membranous. Leaves 6 to 

 12, erect, strap-shaped, distichous, entire, obtuse, 1^ to 2 feet long, 1 to 2 inches 

 broad, margins smooth, reddish, a little twisted, contemporary with the flowers. 

 Peduncle subterete 1 to 2 feet long, ^ to f inch diameter, green, not spotted or 

 mottled. Flowers 6 to 12 in an umbel, drooping, inodorous. Spathe valves 4, 

 broadly oblong lanceolate, broad based, acuminate, veiny. Pedicels ^ to 1 inch 

 long, strongly recurved, bracteoles linear-subulate. Perianth 2 to 3 inches long, 

 tube twice as long as the segments, yellow-green from base to throat, more or less 

 striped and tinged with red, or bright red, the lobes green ; imbricate, f to 1 inch 

 long, \ inch broad, 1 to 1| inch diameter when open, alternate ones minutely 

 hooded and glandular, the others very obtuse. Stamens 6, inserted low down in 

 the perianth tube, equal, free portion 14 lines long; anthers oblong, ^ inch long, 

 reaching a little more than half way up the segments of the corolla. Ovary 

 oblong, triangular with very obtuse angles, 3-celled, cells many ovuled, ovules 

 superposed. Stigma minutely 3-lobed at apex. Capsule not seen. 



Habitat : NATAL : Camperdown, near the Waterworks ; flowered in Botanic 

 Garden, October, 1905. Wood, No. 9936. 



Three species of this genus have already been figured and described in this 

 work, C. angustifolius in Vol. I., p. 5, 0. McKenii, in Vol. I., p. 51, and G. san- 

 guineus, in Vol. IV., p. 341. 



In writing the description of G. ubliquus, I was inclined to think that the 

 specimen that we had might possibly belong to an undescribed species, as in com- 

 paring it with the description in the Flora Capensis the following differences were 

 noted : The leaves are straight not falcate, contemporary with, not produced after 

 the flowers, the perianth is straight or nearly so, not curved, the stamens are 

 equal, not biseriate, the stigma is 3-lobed, not capitate, the peduncles are green, 

 not mottled, the colour of the flower is as above described, the perianth not 

 " tipped with " green, but the lobes are wholly green, the tube only coloured, the 

 amount of the red colouring differing more or less in different flowers. I therefore 

 sent a specimen of the plant to my friend Dr. H. Bolus, of Capetown, who has 

 kindly compared it with his specimen and with ihe figures in Andr. Bot. Rep. t. 

 265, and Jacquin's Hort. Schoenbr. t. 75, and he finds that both of these figures 

 correspond with our specimens even to the colouring of the flowers. The plant 

 therefore is as above named, but Natal is not credited with it in the Flora Capensis, 

 though it appears in the " Preliminary Catalogue of Natal Plants " published in 

 1894. I should have said that the only figure that we have of this plant is that 

 in Bot. Magazine, Vol XXVIII., t. 1133, published in 1808; the peduncle in this 

 figure is represented as mottled, and the perianth lobes barely tipped with green 

 The plant is known to the natives as " Matoonga," and is used by them medicinally. 

 The flowers are very handsome and the plant well worth cultivation. 



Fig. 1, flower opened ; 2, apex of inner perianth lobe ; 3, same of outer lobe ; 

 4, stamen, front view ; 5, same back view ; 6, style and stigma ; 7, spathe valve ; 

 8, bract ; figs. 1, 7, 8, natural size ; remainder all enlarged. 



