Xi/smalobium.] lxxxv. asclepiade.k (brown). 313 



Engl. Jahrb. xvii. 120, Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. ii. 233 and 234, 

 tig. 68, A-D, and in Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg. xxxvii. 122; Durand ct 

 Schinz, Etudes Fl. Congo, i. 102. Gomphocarpus 8pathulatits,Hch\echteT 

 in Journ. Bot. 1895, 269. 



lower Guinea. Angola : near Malange, Mechow, 356 ; near Chamasango on 

 the River Quango (Kuaiigo), Mechow, 539a ! 



South Central. Congo Free State: Kongola Savanna, Buchner, 611; 

 Marangu (Marungu) district, De Beerst (ex Schunudm) ; Mpweto, on Lake Moero, 

 Descamps (ex Schumann). 



In general appearance this plant closely resembles A', helium, N. E. Br., which 

 Dr. Schurannn considers to be identical with X.spaihulatum ; but after nn examina- 

 tion of one of type specimens {Mechow, 539a), whiih was sent to Kew by Profesnor 

 Engler and upon which the above description is cliiefly based, I am unable to adopt 

 this view, as the coronal-lobes are quite different in the two species. Tlie figure of 

 tliem in Engler & Prantl, Pttanzenfamilien is not quite accurate for Mechow. 539a, n» 

 regards the form of the lobes, or their length and position relative to that of the 

 anthers, but it is sufficiently correct to demonstrate bow different tbey are from those 

 of X. bellum. 



19. ASCLEPIAS, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. 7:)4. 



Calyx r)-partite. Corolla 5-lobed to below the middle or nearly to 

 the base, campanulate, subrotate, or refiexed ; lobes overlapping to the 

 left in bud. Corona of 5 lobes arising from the staminal-column, oppo- 

 site the anthers, variable in form, usually free to the base, but some- 

 times with the inflexed sides shortly adnate to the staminal-oolumn, 

 complicate-cucullate or channelled down the face, or at least with the 

 margins at the apex middle or base of the lobes inflexed and usually 

 forming a tooth on each side, never flat, with or without a tooth hoin 

 or crest on the face of the lobe within the cavity or between the inflexed 

 sides; sometimes 5 minute or rudimentary simple or bifid teeth or 

 pouch-like lobules alternate with the coronal-lobes at their base. 

 Staminal-column arising from the bottom of the corolla. Anthers 

 erect, with their membranous appendages inflexed over the apex of 

 the style or erect. Pollen-masses pendulous, solitary in each anthei- 

 cell, attached to the pollen- carriers in pairs by short or long variously- 

 shaped caudicles. Style truncate or depressed and often umbonate at 

 the apex, not exceeding the anther-appendages, which partly cover i^.. 

 Follicles variable in shape, smooth or softly echinate. Seeds crowned 

 with a tuft of hairs.— Perennial herbs or shrubs, often with a tuberous 

 rootstock or tuberous roots; juice milky. Stems simple or branched, 

 usually erect, rarely diflfuse. Leaves opposite or whorled. Flowers in 

 pedunculate or sessile umbels, lateral at the nodes or terminal.— 

 Gomphocarpus, R. Br. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. 7r)3. Stathmc- 

 stelma, K. Schum. in Engl. Jahrb. xvii. 129. 



A large genus, distributed througliout Africa and the warmer jmrts of North an.l 

 South America, with 2 species in Arabia and the Orient, and 2 natumlised in mo«t 

 warm regions. 



