PLATE 574. 



Kedeostis qlatjoa, Cogn. (Fl. Cap. Vol. 2, p. 484, sub-CoNiANDRA.) 

 Natural Order, CuouRBiTAOBiS. 



A slender climbing plant with greenish-yellow unisexual flowers. Leaves op- 

 posite, petiolate, 3 to 5 parted, the lobes irregularly cut into many entire, toothed, 

 lobed or branched linear segments, which are ^ to l^ line broad ; petiole 4-5 lines 

 long, Ihe whole leaf 1 to 1 1 inches long, the uppermost leaves smaller, all of them 

 very variable, tendrils longer than the leaves and opposite to them, simple. Male 

 flowers pedunculate, peduncle uo to 1 inch long, bearing 2-3 flowers on very short 

 pedicels. Calyx campanulate, 5-fid, lobes acute. Corolla gamopetalous, 5-lobed, 

 the lobes obtuse. Stamens 5, on throat of corolla, alternate with its lobes, fila- 

 ments short, anthers linear-oblong, 1 -celled. Female flowers, calyx and corolla as 

 in the male, but corolla lobes spreading horizontally. Stigma sub-capitate, 2-lobed. 

 Fruit a red globose 3-4 celled berry, about 4 lines diameter. 



Habitat: Natal. Drege; near Bstcourt, 3,000 to 4,000 ft. alt. February 

 Wood 10292: Camperdown, 2,000 ft. alt. October Miss b ranks, {Wood 11808). 

 Also in Cape Colony. 



In the 2nd volume of the Flora Capensis, which was published in 1 862, this 

 plant appears as Goniandra glauca, Schrad, but the genus is now abolished in favour 

 of Kedrostis, under which name all the species formerly belonging to Goniandra 

 are now known. Seventeen species have been described, of which 1-5 are natives 

 of Tropical and South Africa, one of East Indies, and one of Abyssinia. None of 

 the species have any useful properties so far as known to us, but K. foetidissima, 

 Cogn. is, when crushed or even trodden upon, exceedingly fetid ; its odour is most 

 disgusting. It is a native of the coast districts of Natal. 



Fig. 1, female flower; 2, style and stigma; 3, longitudinal section of female 

 flower; 4, cross section of ovary ; 5, male flower; G, same opened; 7, stamen; 

 all enlarged. 



