PLATE 392. 



RANDIA DUMETORDM, Lam. (Fl. Cap. Vol. 3, p. 7, sub. R. Kraussii, Harv.) 



Natural Order, RUBIACE^E. 



An erect shrub, sometimes spiny, bearing numerous white flowers which 

 become yellow in fading. Bark rough, dull, glabrous, branches elongated, often 

 producing arrested lateral shoots ; sometimes spiny. Leaves opposite, petiolate, 

 stipulate, oval, ovate-oblong or obovate, rounded at apex, tapering to the petiole 

 at base, veins pinnate, 4 to 6 on each side of the midrib ; finely hispid on both 

 surfaces ; 1 to 2 inches long, f to 1^ inch wide ; petiole 2 to 4 lines long, 

 narrowly winged in upper portion by the decurrent lamina of the leaf ; stipules 

 subulate, 2 lines long, hispidulous like the petiole. Inflorescence axillary or 

 terminal on short lateral branchlets : peduncles 2 to 5-flowered ; pedicels up to % 

 inch long, hispidulous Calyx gamosepalous, 5-lobed, tube campanulate, pube- 

 scent, J inch long, 2 lines wide at throat, lobes ovate oblong or spathulate, unequal, 

 broad based with wide interspaces, up to ^ inch long, spreading. Corolla gamo- 

 petalous, 5-lobed, silky externally, tube a little longer than the calyx tube, shorter 

 than its lobes, cylindrical, with a ring of silky white hairs a little above the base, 

 lobes ovate, horizontally spreading, the whole corolla 1 inch diameter. Stamens 5 

 inserted in throat of corolla, alternate with its lobes ; anthers linear-oblong, sub- 

 sessile, exserted, 2-celled, brown. Ovary inferior, 2-celled, many seeded. Stigma 

 club-shaped, 2-lobed at apex. Fruit dry, crowned by the remains of the calyx. 



Habitat NATAL : Krams, 129 ; Sanderson, 200 . Gerrard fy McKen, 864 ; near 

 Durban, May, Wood, 1313; and October, 9934. 



The genus Randia contains about 90 species, natives of tropical and sub- 

 tropical regions, three only of which are found in Natal, while at least 15 are 

 known from tropical Africa. R. dumetorum appears in the Flora Capensis as 

 Randia Kraussii, Harv., and has also been known as Randia lachnosiphonium, but 

 the name here given is the correct one ; it appears to be rather a variable plant, 

 and is not uncommon in the coast and midland districts of the Colony. It is too 

 small to have any value as timber, and so far sis known to us it has no valuable 

 properties; it bears flowers in abundance, and is probably worth cultivation. 



Fig. 1, calyx; 2, portion of corolla opened; 3, ovary, style and stigmas; 4, 

 fruit natural size; except fig. 4, all enlarged. 



