504 xcv. GESNERACEiE (baker and clarke). {Streptocarpus. 



0. STREPTOCARPUS, Lindl. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. 1023. 



Calyx inferior, deeply 5-fid, -3^-5 in. long. Corolla-tube cylindric 

 or funnel-shaped ; limb of 5, often very unequal, rounded lobes. 

 Stamens 2, on the corolla-tube, with rudiments of 2 or posticous 

 stamens ; anther-cells early confluent ; pollen globose, 15/* in diam., except 

 in 8. lagosensis. Ovary superior, cylindric ; placentas much intruded, 

 bearing numerous ovules only on their margins ; style linear-cylindric, 

 persistent ; stigma subcapitate. Capsule linear, 1-2J in. long, splitting 

 into two spirally twisted valves, which separate from the placentas. 

 Seeds very many, small (about 500 fi long), ellipsoid to oblong, umbonate, 

 brown. — Herbs 6-30 in. high, or stemless. Peduncles carrying many 

 flowers in lax cymes, or (in S. Saxorum) 1 -flowered ; bracts at the cyme- 

 divisions very small, or more often 0. Species all more or less hairy 

 with many-celled, sometimes gland-tipped, hairs. 



Species 50, confined to Africa south of the Tropic of Cancer and the Mas- 

 carene Islands. Several species are closely allied in small groups ; and it is possible 

 that several of these groups may be agglomerated into 1 species each, when more 

 material comes to hand. So far as the present material goes, it rather suggests that 

 Streptocarpus in Africa, like Didymocarpus in S.E. Asia and Cyrtanclra in 

 Polynesia, is rich in species each having' a very restricted habitat. 



§ 1. Unifoliate. — Stemless. Leaf (permanent cotyledon) 1, large, sessile, fiat on 

 the ground. Peduncles 1-4, repeatedly divided into compound cymes. Ovary and 

 style densely hairy. Calyx-lobes linear (or scarcely narrow-oblong), without a gland 

 at the tip, hairy. Hairs rarely gland-tipped. 



Corolla 2 in. long . . . . . . . 4. S. bengueiensis. 



Corolla f-1 in. long. 



Calyx-lobes J in. long. Corolla blue . . . 1. S. Mahoni 



Calyx-lobes ^ in. long. 



Corolla pale blue . . . . . . 2. S. tubifios. 



Corolla violet . . . . . . . 5. S. katangensis. 



Corolla scarcely § in. long 3. S. brevijtos. 



§ 2. Rosulatce. — Stem hardly any. Leaves about 2 pairs, within an inch of the 

 base, suberect. Peduncles 1-4, divided into compound cymes. Ultimate pedicels 

 with some gland-tipped hairs. Calyx-lobes linear or linear-oblong, ± in. long, hairy, 

 not gland-tipped. Anther-cells hardly confluent. Ovary hairy. 



Corolla | in. long. Leaves thin . . . . . 6. 8. montana. 



Corolla |— 1 in. long. Leaves shaggy on nerves . . 7. S. hirtinervis. 



§ 3. Caulescentes. — Stem 4-30 in. long, with internodes up to 1-6 in. long, often 

 branched. Leaves in opposite pairs, lower long petioled, uppermost often approxi- 

 mate and subsessile. Peduncles solitary, axillary, 1-5 in. long, carrying paniculate 

 cymes; sometimes 4-6 apparently umbellate, i.e., one from each axil of the 2-3 pairs 

 of the crowded uppermost leaves. 



* Ovary glabrous, or sparsely and minutely hairy ; the 

 young capsule glabrous or very early glabrescent. 

 Ovary glabrous. Corolla blue or violet ,- tube sub- 

 cylindric. 

 Calyx-lobes ovate or elliptic, not linear nor 

 acute. 

 Leaves closely hairy ; calyx-lobes not gland- 

 tipped . . . • • • 8. S. canlescens. 



