HUERNIA HYSTRIX, N. E. Brown. (Fl. Cap. Vol. 4, Sec. I., p. 911.) 

 Natural Order, ASOLEPIADE^E. 



A succulent dwarf perennial. Stems 2-3 inches high, leafless, prostrate and 

 rooting, 4-6 lines thick, 5-angled, more or less deeply furrowed between the angles, 

 glabrous, pale green or in age dull purplish, teeth spreading at right angles to the 

 stem or a little deflexed, very acute, broad based, 2-3 lines long. Flowers several 

 together at or near the base of the stems, successively opening, pedicels j-1 J inch 

 long, reddish, glabrous. Calyx 5-parted to base, its lobes subulate from a broad 

 and rather rounded base, midrib prominent, glabrous. Corolla in bud pointed at 

 apex, 5-angled, and with a small acute tooth at each angle, prominently rib-veined, 

 the veins reddish, the spaces between them conspicuously pitted, the opened flower 

 spreading to 15-20 lines diameter, its tube semiglobose, 5-6 lines diameter outside, 

 with transverse chocolate lines in the inner side, lobes triangular, very acute, 3- 

 veined, spreading horizontally, upper surface covered with spine-like, acute fleshy 

 processes, the whole yellow thickly spotted with dark chocolate. Corona, outer 

 lobes half as long as broad, truncate, black; inner ones 1-^ line long, much longer 

 than the staminal column, linear with a transverse ridge on back below, expanded 

 at the apex and flattened, " somewhat resembling an inverted foot," yellow choco- 

 late dotted. " Pollen-masses attached in pairs by short triangular caudicles to 

 lateral wing-like expansions of the pollen- carrier, sub-horizontal, pellucid at the 

 free end just within the straight margin." Follicles in pairs, lanceolate, acuminate, 

 7 inches long by -J inch wide, pale with reddish longitudinal markings. Seeds 

 many, oblong, 4 lines by 2-| lines, including a thickened wing. 



Habitat . NATAL : On a stony hill near Ladysmith, 3,200 ft. alt., Wood ; near 

 Weenen, 2,000-3,000 ft. alt. Hay garth, (Wood 10813) ; near Umlaas River, 2,000 

 ft. alt. November, Miss Franks (Wood 11717.) 



The Order Asclepiadese is divided into 6 Tribes, and the plant here described, 

 together with Stapelia gigar/tea (plate 531), belongs to Tribe 6. This Tribe con- 

 tains 1 1 genera, 3 only of which, viz. Caralluma, Huernia and Stapelia, are repre- 

 sented in Natnl so far as at present known Caralluma by 1 species, Huernia 2 

 species, Stapelia by 2 species, and a third one doubtful ; the remaining South 

 African species belonging to this Tribe number about 1G3, and are all natives of 

 the drier parts of Africa. In Natal Huenda hystrix is probably the most common 

 species, and Stapelia Woodii the rarest. Most, if not all, of the species are dis- 

 agreeably scented, some so much so as to be known as " carrion flowers," and on 

 this account are often visited by insects ; the colours of the flowers are nearly 

 always dull, but will well repay close examination, and those of the above described 

 species are with difficulty distinguished from the soil on which they often lie. 



Fig. 1, calyx; 2, corona; 3, outer corona and staminal column; 4, pollen 

 masses ; 5, pistil ; 6, follicles ; 7, seed ; figs. 6 and 7 natural size, remainder enlarged. 



