PLATE 594. 



THUNBERGIA ATRIPLICIFOLIA, S. Mey. (Fl. Cap. Vol. V., Sect. 1, p. 7.) 



Nat. Order, ACANTHACE^:. 



An herbaceous perennial with several stems which are sub-erect or decumbent 

 from a woody root, often branched, densely and patently hispid with whitish hairs, 

 6 to 24 inches long. Leaves ovate, entire, acute, 1 to 2 inches long, f to 1 inch 

 wide, rounded and 3 to 5-veined at base, veins and veinlets distinct, hispid like the 

 stem, the lower pairs distant, 3 to 4 inches apart, upper ones closer; petioles very 

 short, to ^ inch. Flowers axillary on lengthening pedicels which finally in fruit 

 reach to 3 inches or more in length. Bracteoles 2, elliptic, obtuse, rounded at 

 base, pilose, 8 to 9 lines long, 4 to 5 lines wide. Calyx very much smaller than 

 the bracteoles, cut into about 12 linear whitish teeth which are longer than the 

 cup-shaped tube. Corolla gamopetalus, oblique, the tube about f inch long, the 

 limb 5-lobed spreading to 1 inch wide, cream coloured. Stamens 4, didynamous 

 included, anthers 2-celled, usually 6 of the 8 cells spurred at base, margined with 

 moniliform hairs, the connective produced in a short horn. Style longer than the 

 stamens, 2 lobed, the lobes funnel-shaped, one at the apex, the other much below 

 it. Capsule globose, rostrate, 2-celled, cells 2-seeded. 



Habitat: NATAL. Inanda, 1 ,800 f t. alt. Wood 42 ; 90 ; also Grant ; Gerrard 

 220. 



Also in Cape Colony and Transvaal. 



Of this genus three species have already been described in this work, viz. : 

 T. alata, Bojer ; T. Dregeana, Nees in Vol. III., and T. pondoevsis, Lindau, in Vol. 

 IV., these three plants are all climbers, while the stems of T. atriplicifolia are 

 either quite erect or more or less decumbent, it is common all over the colony, and 

 is popularly known as the " Natal Primrose." The leaves of one species of 

 Thunbergia are used by the natives in Cape Colony with other leaves as a remedy 

 for scrofulous swellings (Andrew Smith, M.A.), and the leaves of T. atriplicifolia 

 are much used by the natives and Indians in Natal to make a wash for the hair, 

 the native name of the plant is isi-Pondo. 



Fig. J, calyx; 2, stamens; 3, disk and pistil; 4, cross section of ovary; 

 5, capsule ; 6, vertical section of same ; all enlarged. 



