27 



PLATE 250. 



"Wedelia natalensis, Sond. (Fl. Cap. Vol. iii., p. 132). 

 Natural Order, Composite. 



An herbaceous plant with many long, straggling, decumbent, naked stems, 

 usiially forming a dense clump. Stems subangular, scabrid. Leaves opposite, 

 petiolate, very variable in form, rotund, ovate-acuminate, or lanceolate, margins 

 revolute, distantly and sharply serrate, scabrid on both surfaces with white, curved 

 hairs from a broad cellular base; 3-veined; 1 to 3 inches long, 5 to 12 lines 

 broad; petiole 1-line long, flattened, the opposite pairs connected by a distinct 

 ring. Inflorescence terminal or sometimes axillary, flowers yellow. Heads soli- 

 tary, heterogamous. Involucral scales in two rows, outer 6, leaflike, ovate-oblong, 

 ciliate, puberulous, 6-])nes long ; 2 to 3 lines wide ; inner membranous, oblong, 

 ciliate in upper portion, 3^ lines long, 2 lines wide ; innermost hyaline, lanceolate, 

 ciliate and silky in upper portion. Pappus concrete in a toothed and ciliate cup. 

 Ray florets, 10 to 12, ligulate, in one row, female, tube very short, limb oblong, 

 minutely 2-fid at apex, with two prominent ribs, one ending in each tooth, 

 minutely glandular ciliate, several veined. Disk floreis, hermaphrodite, tubular, 

 6-toothed, the teeth minutely but densely glandular internally. Stamens 10, anthers 

 membrane-tipped, subsagittate at base. Styles bifid, lobes linear, glandulose. 

 Receptacle convex, palse linear- oblong, hyaline, concave, sharply toothed in upper 

 portion, and with a dark brown midvein. Achenes silky, crowned by the hardened 

 cup-like pappus. 



Habitat: Natal: Inanda, 1,803 feet alt., Wood; near Durban, 500 feet alt., 

 March, Wood. 



Not an uncommon plant in the coast districts, and reaching to at least 2,000 

 feet above sea level. We cannot learn that the natives have any specific name for 

 this plant, nor do they put it to any use. 



Fig. ] , outer involucral scale ; 2, inner involucral scale ; 3, innermost involu- 

 cral scale ; 4, ray floret ; 5, disk floret ; 6, anthers ; 7, achene and pappus ; 8, 

 palae ; all enlarged. 



