PLATE 393. 



VITIS QUAPRANGULARIS, Lin. (Fl. Tropical Africa, Vol. I., p. 399. 

 Natural Order, AMPBLIDEA 



A wide climbing branching plant with succulent, quadrangular, green, winged 

 stems and branches which are constricted at the nodes, deeply furrowed especially 

 the younger portions, the angles acute and more or less winged, the wings not 

 ciliate, the whole plant quite ylabrous. Leaves alternate, very few, petiolate, 

 stipulate, usually deeply 3-lobed, the lateral lobes patent, almost truncate, and 

 obscurely 3-lobed, and rnucronate, the terminal lobe erect, trilobed at apex, the 

 lobes mucronate, the sinuses wide and rounded ; occasionally a leaf is broadly 

 ovate, with 2 or 3 shallow mucronate lobes on each side ; texture rather thick, 

 lateral veins more or less immersed ; dark green and shining on both surfaces ; 1 

 to 2 inches wide, f to 1 inch long (in our specimens), petiole 3 to 8 lines long, 

 channelled above ; stipules broadly ovate or semi-rotund, membranous edged, 2 to 

 3 lines long and wide; tendrils long, slender, furnished with a minute deciduous 

 bract. Inflorescence cymose, the cymes lateral, compound. Peduncles 6 to 12 

 inches long, many flowered, pedicels J to -| inch long. Calyx cyathiform, bluntly 

 and indistinctly lobed. Petals 4, greenish-yellow on inner surface, outer brownish, 

 hooded at apex, reflexed and very soon deciduous, 1 j by 1^ line long. Disk cup- 

 shaped, entire. Stamens 4, filaments very short, erect; anthers 2-celled, dorsi- 

 fixed. Ovary superior, 2-celled, cells 2-seeded. Fruit | inch long by 4 lines wide, 

 ovate, red when ripe. 



Habitat: NATAL: Zululand, Wood, 9935. 



Drawn and described from a plant brought from Somkeli, Zululand, and 

 which flowered in the Botanic Gardens, Durban, October, 1905. 



A singular wide climbing plant which trails over trees and shrubs, and has 

 very much the appearance of a member of the Cactus family ; the fruit is said to 

 be eatable. It is also found in tropical Africa, Arabia, India and the Moluccas. 



Fig. 1, portion of stem and inflorescence, natural size ; 2, branch and leaves, 

 natural size; 3, a bud ; 4, flower; .*>, petal ; 6, stamen, front view ; 7, same, back 

 view; 8, disk, ovary, style and stigma; 9, cross section of ovary; 10, portion of 

 tendril showing bract; except figs. 1 and 2, all enlarged. 



