Velvitsia] LX.wix. scrophui.ariace.e. 



771 



18. VELVITSIA lliern, gen. nov. 



Calyx gamosepaloas, Uibular-cauipunulate in flower, 5-cleft, 

 inferior, accrescent; the tetth ovate, erect, equal among them- 

 selves, falling sliort of the corolla-limb. Corolla tubular, the 

 tube inferior ; the limb deeply 5-cleft ; the lobes ovate, somewhat 

 obtuse, imbricate in lestivation, soon erect-spreading. Stamens 4, 

 inserted at the middle of the coi-oUa-tube, subdidymous, all bearing 

 anthers; the filaments somewhat thick, cylindrical-acuminate; 

 the anthers 2-celltd ; the cells parallel, below free, narrowed, 

 acute, not aristate, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary free, sessile, 

 oblong-ovoid, gradually narrowing at the apex into the cylindrical 

 style, 2 -celled ; the placentas somewhat spongy ; ovules very 

 numerous, crowded, ascending ; style terminal, curved in a hooked 

 manner at the apex ; stigma simple, somewhat thick, flattened, 

 acuminate. Ilypogynous disk annular, rather thick and fleshy. 

 Capsule included in the erect bladdery persistent calyx, rigid, 

 glabrous, 2-valved. Seeds numerous, elongate-cuneiform, crowned 

 with a small round membranous appendage ; testa very lax, 

 sparingly verruculose ; albumen apparently very thin ; embryo 

 straight ; cotyledons tolerably large, subfoliaceous, plano-convex, 

 twice as long as the terete radicle which is close to the umbilicus. 



A perennial, erect herb, with the lower leaves opposite and 

 trinerved, and the infloi-escence terminal and racemose. 



Named in honour of Dr. Welwitsch, whose notes have furnished 

 the chief part of the description and were indispensable for that 

 of the corolla and stamens, since our specimens have lost these 

 organs. Welwitschia Reichenb. (1837) has been reduced to Gilia 

 Ruiz & Pav. (1794), and Welwitschia Hook. f. (1862) must give 

 way to the earlier name Tamboa Welw. (1861); there is also 

 Welwitschiella O. Hofi'm. (1894) in Compositfe. 



1. V. calycina lliern. sp. unica. 



Plant l.v to 2 ft. high, scabrid on most parts with short rigid 

 hairs; rootstock woody, furnished with thick fibres; stems rigid, 

 straight, angular, sparingly biunched, with opposite leaves below 

 and with some alternate leaves above and on the branches ; leaves 

 lanceolate or somewhat oval-oblong, obtuse or i-ounded at the 

 apex, more or less narrowed to the subsessile or very shortly 

 petiolate base, very rough, shortly hispid, bright green, ligidly 

 membranous, densely venulose with raised venation between the 

 nerves, narrowly revolute and remotely denticulate on the margin, 

 exstipulate, \\ to 3 in. long by I to H in. broad, the lower leaves 

 smaller and crowded ; petiole broad and very short or obsolete, 

 somewhat hispidulous ; inflorescence centripetal, narrow, 6 to 

 12 in. long; pedicels opposite, bracteate at the base, the lower 

 ones ranging up to about an inch long, the upper ones shorter ; 

 bracts leaf -like, ] to 1^ in. long; bracteoles at the apex of the 

 pedicels, sublinear, \ to i} in. long ; calyx about \ in. long in 

 flower, about ^ in. long in fruit and then hemispherical, inflated, 

 10-nerved, not-veined, scabrid outside, smooth, with sub-deltoid 

 pointed lobes; corolla whitish verging on pale yellow, marked 



