12 



PLATE 210. 



GrEBWIA OCOIDENTALIS, Linn. (sp. PI. 964). 

 Natural Order, TiLiAOEiE. 



A small tree reaching 10-15 feet in height with stem sometimes 6-8 inches in 

 diameter. Bark grey, glabrous, the young twigs only puberulous. Leaves alter- 

 nate, petiolate, stipuhite, ovate-acuminate, tapering at base, margin closely cre- 

 nato-serrate, dark green, shining and marked with small protuberances above, 

 paler dull and smooth beneath, veins pinnate, the two outer ones only joining at 

 the base of the leaf ; 1^3 inches long, f-l|- inch wide ; petiole 3—4 lines long. 

 Stipules deciduous. Peduncles axillary and terminal, several flowered ;j— | inch 

 long, pedicels 3-5 lines long. Buds oblong, obtuse. Sepals 5, linear-lanceolate, 

 dull green and pubescent externally, pale lavender and glabrous within, leathery, 

 -|— f inch long, having I central and 3 lateral veins on each side. Petals 5, linear- 

 lanceolate, shorter than the sepals, lavemler, each with a large nectariferous sub- 

 rotund scale at base within, which is villous on its upper edge, the 5 scales attain- 

 ing an upright position, and completely enclosing the lowar portion of the 

 torus, which is furnished with 5 hispid glands near its apex. Stamens numerous, 

 inserted at, and a little below the apex of the columnar torus, filaments filiform, 

 pink, anthers ovate, yellow. Ovary globose, villous, 4-celled, cells 1-ovuled. 

 Style longer than stamens. Stigma flattened. Fruit a drupe sparingly hispid, 

 4-lobed, 1-4 celled, cells 1 seeded. 



Habitat : Natal : Coast and midlands in thickets and near edges of bush. 

 Near Verulam, 500 feet alt, October, Wood 1130; near Durban, 50 feet alt, 

 January, Wood, var obtusiflorus. Higher Tugela, Gerrard and McKen, 1127. 



A shrub or small tree known to the natives as i-Klolo ; like others of the 

 genus the bark contains much mucilage, but so far as known to us it has no 

 practical value. In the Flora Oapensis, Vol. 1, p. 225, where this plant is des- 

 cribed, the flower buds are said to be " roundish oval " and in the young state they 

 are so, but the more mature ones are oblong as stated above ; the sepals also are 

 said to be "nerveless," but closer examination will show that they have a midvein 

 with 3 lateral ones on each side of it, but this cannot bo well seen except under 

 the microscope after the sepal has been rendered more transparent by soakino- in 

 spirit or in some other way. 



Fig. 1, flower; 2, section through flower; 3, style, stigma and ovary; 4, 

 stamen ; 5, petal and scale ; 6, fruit with perpendicular section through one of the 

 cells. Figs, i, 2, 6, natwral size ; figs. 3, 4, 5, enlarged. 



