402 Lxxxv. ASCLEPiADE^ (brown). [Hoodia. 



Iiower Guinea. Angola : Jlossamedes ; among elevated rocks near Pomaii- 

 gala, 1500 ft., dry places in front of Quitibe de Baixo, and at Cavalheiros, TFelivitsch, 

 4265 ! 



52. EDITHCOLEA, N. E. Br. in Kew Bulletin, 1895, 220. 



Calyx 5 -partite. Corolla large, rotate or saucer-shaped, 5-lobed 

 half-way to the centre; tube hemispherical, exceedingly small in 

 proportion to the limb ; lobes valvate in bud. Corona small, double, 

 arising from the staminal-column ; outer corona of 5 short ascending 

 or soniewhat pouch-like lobes, alternating with the anthers, with their 

 margins shortly adnate to the inner coronal-lobes ; inner corona of 5 

 erect fleshy lobes, dilated at the apical part and inflexed over the 

 anthers, with contiguous margins, densely echinulate or tuberculate 

 on the back. Staminal-column arising near the bottom of the 

 corolla- tube very small ; anthers erect or slightly incurved at the 

 tips, oblong, unappendaged. Pollen-masses erect, compressed elongate- 

 ovoid, pellucid at the apex, solitary in each anther-cell, large in 

 proportion to the corona, attached in pairs to the blackish pollen- 

 carriers by very short broad caudicles. Style not exceeding the 

 anthers, somewhat compressed-truncate at the apex, something like 

 the roof of a house, with the two angles very shortly produced or 

 bicorniculate. Follicles not seen. — Succulent perennial leafless herbs, 

 more or less branched ; branches fleshy, spine-toothed at the angles. 

 Flowers from near the apex of the branches, pedicellate, very large. 



Species 2, the other endemic in Socotra. 



1. E. grandis, X. E. Br. in Kew Bulletin, 1805, 220. Stems 

 succulent, " growing to about a foot in height and 1 in. or more in 

 diam., decumbent at the base " {Miss Edith Cole), 5-angled, glabrous ; 

 angles armed with hard brown very acute spine-like teeth. Flowers 

 sul)solitary at the tips of the branches; pedicels 7-9 lin. long, 

 I4-IJ lin. thick, glabrous. Sepals 4 lin. long, 1-1 J lin. broad, 

 ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, probably recurved at the somew^hat 

 indurated pungent tips. Corolla -4-5 in. or perhaps more in diam., 

 5-lobed half-way to the centre, rotate or saucer-shaped, glabrous on the 

 back; tube about J in. ia di>im. and lJ-2 lin. deep, with a slightly 

 elevated acute rim around its mouth, glabrous; disk rugose with 

 concentric ridges and furnished with 5 lines of long clavate purple 

 hairs radiating from the centre to the sinuses, otherwise glabrous, 

 apparently whitish or pale yellowish marked with dark purple-brown 

 spots, which, at the middle (or base ?) of each lobe are confluent in an 

 arc; lobes lJ-2 in. long, 1-1^ in. broad, ovate, acute, bordered with 

 long clavate purple hairs to about themiddle, where the borders incurve 

 and form a broad hairy arc across each of the lobes, which are other- 

 wise glabrous, and from the inner margin of the hairy arc to the apex 

 are dark purple-brown without markings. Outer coronal-lobes \-\ 

 lin. long, subquadrate or transversely oblong, acutely bifid, with a broad 

 shallow sinus between the points, concave and hairy within ; inner 



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