PLA.TE 573. 



Pleoteani'HUS ooloeatus, E. Meyer. (Fl. Cap. Vol 5, Sec. I, Part II., p. 279.) 



Natural Order, Labiate. 



An undershrub, witli lilac flowers. Stems much branched, from 12 to 18 

 inches high in open ground, from 3 to 4 feet in shade, quadrangular, pubescent, 

 with tufts of white hairs at the nodes in younger portions. Leaves opposite, petio- 

 late, ovate, acute, narrowed to the petiole, the margins then continued down the 

 petiole forming a double ridge on its upper surface, irregularly crenate for | of its 

 length, entire in lower portion, minutely hispid on upper surface, more densely so 

 on veins and veinlets beneath ; petiole 1 to 3 inches long, minutely hispid. Inflor- 

 escence paniculate, verticillasters 4 to 6 flowered, sessile, bracts ovate-acuminate, 

 minutely ciliate, 2-3 lines long, 1 -2 lines broad ; pedicels 2-3 lines long, pubescent. 

 Fruiting calyx 3 lines long, bilabiate, upper lip erect, entire, ovate, acute, lower 

 4-toothedj the teeth acuminate, ciliate, the two lowest teeth the longest. Flowering 

 calyx similar, but smaller, more open, and coloured. Corolla lilac, 1 inch or more 

 long, tube narrow, straight, laterally compressed, not widening to throat, upper lip 

 ^ inch long, oblong ; lower sub-entire, the upper portion 2-lobed, the lobes rounded, 

 the upper appearing as two rounded lateral expansions, each with a white raised 

 rib in centre. Stamens 4, didynamous, declinate ; nutlets | line long, oblong, rugu- 

 lose, dark brown. 



Habitat: Natal. Inanda, 1,800 ft. alt., March Wood 480;. near Murchison, 

 2,000-2,500 ft. alt. Maj,.Wood 3036; near Eshowe, Zululand, April Wood 7591 ; 

 near Durban, Oueinzius ; Dumisa, Liudatis 314; without precise locality, Qerrard 

 1 671 ; near Durban, 250 ft. alt., April Miss Franks ( Wood 1 1809). Also in Trans- 

 kei, Pondoland and Cape Colony. 



Two species of this genus have already been figured and described in this 

 work, viz., P. saccatus in Vol. 1, plate 86; and P. tomentosus in Vol. 4, plate 816. 

 The species above described has, as will be seen, a wide range of distribution in 

 South Africa, but it has no special value, except, perhaps, as an ornamental plant. 



Fig. 1, calyx ; 2, same opened ; 3, corolla ; 4, stamen; 5, same, back view ; 6, 

 disk and ovary ; 7, style and stigma ; 8, fruiting calyx ; 9, nutlet ; all enlarged. 



