11 



PLATE 280. 



Thunbehgia Dregeana, Nees. (Fl. Cap. Vol. V., p. 10.) 

 Natural Order, Acanthace^. 



A twining plant with yellow flowers. Stems terete or 4-ribbed, hirsute with 

 reversed hairs. Leaves opposite, petiolate, ovate-cordate or ovate-hastate, margins 

 snbentire ; obtuse or apiculate, softly hairy on both surfaces, the hairs on the 

 upper sui'face rising from minute pustules ; 3 to 6 veined; 2 inches or more long, 

 by 1 J to 2 inches wide, petioles ^ to 2 inches long, ribbed like the stem, hirsute. 

 Inflorescence axillary, solitaiy, pedancles 2 to 4g- inches Jong, subterete, pilose ; 

 bracteoles 2, ovate, acuminate, enclosing the calyx, pilose, veiny. Calyx much 

 shorter than the bracteoles ; of 12 linear teeth which equal the ovary, white and 

 minutely glandular hairy. Corolla salver shaped, yellow, lighter coloured beneath, 

 tube swollen in centre, and channelled above, pilose at base, f inch long, limb 

 oblique, -S-lobed, 1 J to 1^ inch diameter, lobes obovate. Stamens 4, on corolla tube 

 at base, subdidynamous, filaments short, glabrous, anthers 2-celled, densely glan- 

 dular hairy especially at base, connective produced into a short horn at apex, the 

 cells often (but not always) spurred at base, the spur curved. Style glabrous, 

 stigmas 2, one above the other, the upper one truncate, lower laminate, semi-cup- 

 shaped. Ovary superior, seated in tlie persistent calyx, rostrate, the beak deeply 

 channelled on the two opposite sides. Capsule globose, rostrate, 2-celled, cells 

 2-seeded ; seeds black, reticulated, excavate at base. 



Habitat : Natal: Inanda 1,800 feet alt,, Wood No. 543; near Durban 150 feet 

 alt., March, Wood; also near Durban, January, Wood. 



A common twining plant in coast and midland districts, the flowers are yellow, 

 though in the Flora Capensis they are said to be white. The genus contains about 

 96 species, of which \7 are South African, 9 of which have been found in Natal. 



The above described species and T. atriplicifolia are called by the natives isi- 

 Pondo, and are used by them for making a wash for the hair, and the writer has 

 seen the Indian women in Katal gathering the unripe capsules of T. Dregeana for 

 the same purpose. 



Fig. 1 , calyx ; 2, a stamen ; 3, style and stigma ; 4, fruit about natural size ; 

 5, longitudinal section of same ; 6, cross section of same; 7, seed, side view; 8, 

 same, front view ; except fig. 4, all enlarged. 



