26 



PLATE 249. 



Tepheosia Kraussiana, Meisn. (Fl. Cap. Vol. ii., p. 206). 

 Natural Order, Legdminos^. 



A small, erect, densely leafy undershrub 2 to 5 feet high. Stems and branches 

 rib-furrowed, densely covered with whitish erect or spreading pilose hairs. Leaves 

 alternate, pinnate, shortly petiolate, 7-iO-jugate with a terminal leaflet, the 

 rhachis to base ot terminal leaflet i to 2 inches long ; stipules setaceo-subulate, 

 longer than the petiole. Leaflets opposite, springing from the upper surface of 

 the rhachis, narrow liuear, linear cuneate, or linear oblong, margins entire, apex 

 obtuse, emarginate or mucronulate, canesceiit with whitish appressed pubescence 

 beneath, more sparingly so above, f to 1 inch long, 1 to 1^ line wide (in dried 

 specimens the white pubescence is more conspicuous, and the upper surface of the 

 leaflets is dark brown) ; petiolules 1-line long, densely pilose. Inflorescence in 

 axillary and terminal racemes, the terminal ones crowded, forming a false panicle. 

 Flowers pink. Peduncles 2 to ti inches long, somewhat laxly flowered. Bracts 

 subulate, 2 to 3 lines long, pilose. Calyx gamosepalous, tube campanulate, limb 

 6-lobed, the two upper lobes connate for about two thirds of their length, the 

 lowest slightly longer than the others ; densely pilose externally. Corolla papi- 

 lionaceous, petals clawed, vexillum suborbicular, ample, erect, villous externally ; 

 alge oblong, oblique, glabrous; carina incurved, obtuse, glabrous. Stamens 10, 

 vexillary filament free at the base, connate with the others upwards ; anthers 

 small, similar, oblong. Ovary hirsute. Style curved, aubglabrous, stigma minute, 

 with one or two long hairs. Legume linear, compressed, canescent, apiculate, Ij 

 to 1-^ inch long, 1^ to 2 lines wide, 4 to 6 seeded. 



Habitat: Natal: In coast and midlands. Inanda, 1,800 feet alt., Wood No. 

 807 ; near Sydenham, 8-500 feet alt., January, Wood No. 7403. 



Drawn and described from the Sydenham specimens. 



This genus is widely distributed in warm regions, and contains more than 90 

 species, of which about 25 are fouud in South Africa, 15 at least of these having 

 been identified in Natal, some are undershrubs reaching to 5 to 6 feet in height, 

 while others are prostrate or creeping, one or two of the taUer species are well 

 worth cultivation. The native name for the above described plant is isi-Punga, 

 and they are said to use it medicinally. 



Fig. 1, calyx opened; 2, vexillum; 3, ala; 4, carina; 5, stamens; 6, ovary, 

 style and scigma ; 7, legumes, natural size ; except Fig. 7, all enlarged. 



