PLATE 596. 



SOLANUM PANDUR^FORME, E.M. (Fl. Cap. Vol. IV., Sec. 2, p. 99.) 

 Nat. Order, SOLANAOE^;. 



A small much branched undershrub, bearing few, or many short spines, which 

 are subulate from a broad base and 1 to 2 lines long. Stem and branches terete, 

 densely stellate pubescent. Leaves alternate, exstipulate, petiolate, oblong- 

 lanceolate, margins entire, more or less sinuate ; up to 4-^ inches long, by 1 inch 

 broad, acute at apex, long tapering to petiole, stellate pubescent on both surfaces, 

 densely so on the lower surface, occasionally with a few spines on the midrib 

 beneath ; petiole to f inch long. Inflorescence extra-axillary, in few flowered 

 cymes, the lowest flower only fertile. Calyx more or less deeply 5-lobed, lobes 

 obtuse; 3 to 3^ lines long, stellate-pubescent externally. Corolla pink or purple, 

 5-parted stellato-pubescent externally, lobes 3 to 4^ lines long, oblong-lanceolate, 

 acute, with a few minute hairs on the midrib inside. Stamens 5, filaments 1 line 

 long, anthers three lines long, dehiscing by two small pores, one at apex of each cell. 

 Ovary ovoid, hirsute at apex. Style 5 lines long, thickened upwards ; stellately 

 pubescent at base ; stigma small obtuse. Fruit a globose yellow berry, 8 to 1 

 lines diameter, smooth, glabrous. 



Habitat: NATAL. Near Umlazi River, 1,800 ft. alt. Wood 1831, April; near 

 Camperdown, 2,000 ft. alt., Miss Franks; between Maritzburg and Grey town, 

 Wilms 2166; npar Durban, Krauss 102; and without precise locality, Gerrard 52. 



Also in Cape Colony and Tropical Africa. 



This plant is not uncommon in the midland and upper districts, the cutting of 

 the calyx is wqrth notice, it is sometimes very deeply lobed, and sometimes almost 

 entire, both forms, occasionally, perhaps always appearing on the same plant. 



There would also appear to be some discrepancy as to the colour of the flowers, 

 as in the Flora Capensis after the word "pink" appears (Wood). My specimen 

 was gathered in 1883. I have referred to my note book and find, that I noted at 

 the time that the flowers were pink, in the specimens gathered by Miss Franks in 

 1911 she has noted " flowers purple," and on a sheet in the Herbarium which 

 contains a specimen gathered by Mr. Legge in 1904, it is stated "flowers yellow." 



Fig. 1, calyx ; 2, portion of corolla opened, showing stamens; 3, stamen ; 4, 

 pistil ; 5, cross section of ovary ; all enlarged. 



