PLATE 396. 



GLORIOSA VIRESCENS, Ldl. (PL Cap. Vol. VI., p. 526). 

 Natural Order, LILIAOEJS. 



Rootstock tuberous, often branched, white. Stems slender, elongated, climb- 

 ing, green, terete. Leaves sessile, lower crowded, and with the central ones 

 opposite or ternate, apper ones scattered and smaller, all oblong to oblong-lanceo- 

 late and produced into a tendril at apex, margins quite entire, midrib very pro- 

 minent beneath ; glabrous, dark green and shining on both surfaces ; 3 to 5 inches 

 long including the tendril, I to 1^ inch wide. Flowers axillary or terminal on 

 stem and branches , peduncles terete, green, strongly recurved at apex. Perianth 

 segments 6, persistent, very strongly reflexed and curved, clawed, the margins of 

 the claw incurved ; lamina lanceolate, acuminate, margins more or less undulate, 

 edge of claw and lower portion of segment sulphur yellow, upper portion bright 

 red, becoming darker in a<;e ; central nerve very prominent beneath, and thickened 

 at the very base ; 2| inches long, by f inch wide. Stamens 6, hypogynous, fila- 

 ments half to two thirds as long as the perianth segments, horizontally spreading, 

 filiform ; anthers dehiscing laterally, and extrorsely. Ovary sessile, oblong, 3- 

 celled, very deeply 3-lobed, many ovuled, ovules superposed ; style filiform, 

 equalling the stamens, horizontal, trifurcate, often unequally so, the branches 

 truncate and stigmatose at apex internally. Capsule coriaceous, septicidally 3- 

 valved ; seeds globose, dark red and shining. 



Habitat : NATAL : Sea coast only. Wood, 1583 ; Plant, 19; Gerrard, 736. 

 Drawn from plants in flower, Berea, January, 1906. 



A very handsome plant well known in cultivation in Europe where it is much 

 admired, but the roots are said to be very poisonous. A peculiarity in this plant 

 worth notice is the very abrupt bending of the style almost at right angles. Of 

 this genus there are 5 known species, the above described one being the only one 

 indigenous to Natal ; in Tropical Africa the whole of the 5 species are found, one 

 of which is also found in Tropical Asia, and G. virescens is also found in Madagas- 

 car. The genus was formerly known as Methonica, and our plant has been known 

 as M. virescenx ; M. virescens var. Plantii ; M. Peter siana and M. platyphylla. 



Fig. 1 , tuberous rootstock ; 2, a stamen ; 3, pistil ; 4, cross section of ovary ; 

 5, capsule ; fig. 1 and 5 natural size, 2, 3, and 4 enlarged. 



