500 XCV. GESNERACE^ (BAKER AND CLARKE). 



except from Scrophulariaeea which differ by having a completely 2-celled ovary 

 (with the numerous seeds on axile placentas in each cell). But in many Gesneracece, 

 if a horizontal section is made across the lower half of the ovary, the two placentas 

 are nearly (or quite !) confluent by their inner flattened faces, and the section is then 

 that of a Scrophulariacea, and some of the figures cited below as gesneraceous show 

 this. To be sure that a plant is gesneraceous, a cross-section must be made 

 through the upper half of the ovary, when the two placentas can be seen to be 

 parietal. 



Capsule ovoid or oblong. 



Cyme open ; leaves several, petioled . . .1. Saintpaulia. 



Cyme condensed into a small head . . . .2. Epithema. 



Cyme open ; leaf 1, basal, sessile . . . .3. Acanthoxema. 



Capsule linear. 



Capsule-valves flat after dehiscence. 



Stigma emarginate, hardly 2-fid . . . . 4. Didymocarptts. 



Stigma of two oblong rough branches . . .5. Trachtstigma. 



Capsule-valves twisting up after dehiscence . . 6. Streptocarpus. 



Capsule oblong ? Creeping, with distant alternate 



leaves ........ 7. Linist^opsis. 



1. SAINTPAULIA, Wendl. in Gartenfl. xlii. 321, t. 1391. 



Calyx small, deeply 5-lobed. Corolla wide-campanulate ; tube 

 short ; lobes elliptic, a fine blue, the two posticous shorter (sometimes 

 much shorter) than the others. Stamens (perfect) 2, on the corolla ; 

 filaments nearly or quite glabrous ; anther-cells very large, yellow, even 

 when young orbicular, dehiscing by one continuous short slit. Ovary 

 hairy ; style glabrous upwards ; stigma oblique, hardly 2-fid ; placenta - 

 tion as in Streptocarpus. Capsule oblong, loculicidally 2-valved ; valves 

 after dehiscence flat, the placentas attached to the middle of the valve, 

 covering the seeds by their inrolled margins. Seeds small, ellipsoid, 

 smooth. — Herbs, hairy, often stemless. Leaves long-petioled, ovate. 

 Peduncles radical (or axillary in the caulescent species), 1-5 in. long, 

 carrying several (or 1) flowers in a loose cyme ; bracts very small. 

 Species 4, endemic. 



This genus differs from several others in characters of small importance. It 

 differs from Didymocarpus and Chirita only in the capsule being oblong (not linear). 

 The corolla, stamens, and large anthers are exceedingly like those of Baa, which differ 

 by having twisted capsule-valves. Engler (in Engl. Jahrb. xxviii. 482) doubts if 

 the genus can be kept distinct from the Chinese Petrocosmia, Oliver ; and Fritsch 

 (in Engl. Sf Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. 3 B. 185) states that Petrocosmia only differs by 

 having the anther-cells (just before dehiscence) oblong and parallel, which is 

 right. 

 Stemless. 



Corolla 5 in. in diam. 



Leaves crenate, thin, with two kinds of hairs . 1. S. ionantha. 



Leaves entire, thick, with uniform hairs . . 2. S. kewensis. 



Corolla -| in. in diam 3. S. pusilla. 



Stem 4-6 in. long, with distant pairs of leaves . . 4. S. goetzeana. 



Abbild 



1. S. ionantha, Wendl. in Gartenfl. xlii. 321, t. 1391, and 323, 

 'ild. 66. Stemless, hairy. Leaves many ; blade 1£ by 1 J in., 



