12 



PLATE 281. 



Hbwittea bicoloe, Wight & Arn (in Madr. Journ. Sc, Ser I (1837) 22.) 

 Natural Order, Contolvuiace^. 



A twining herb with yellow flowers having a dark purple centre. Stamens 

 terete, pilose with reversed hairs, dark coloured. Leaves alternate, petiolate, 

 exstipulate, ovate-cordate or ovate-hastate, margins usually quite entire, or some- 

 times lobed, conspicuously apiculate, softly pilose on both surfaces, '6-6 veined, 

 veins and veiulets prominent beneath ; 2-4 inches long and wide ; petiole 1 to 8 

 inches long, pilose, dark coloured. Inflorescence axillary, pedunculate, peduncles 

 pubescent, 1 or several flowered, 1 to 5 inches long. Bracts 2, a little below the 

 calyx, lanceolate, 6 to 8 lines long, 3 to 4 lines wide. Calyx 5 parted, the two 

 exterior lobes much the largest, enclosing the others, ovate acute, the next two a 

 little shorter and broadly lanceolate, the other linear-lanceolate the whole calyx 6 

 to 8 lines long, the lobes subequal in length ; finely pubescent and ciliate. Corolla 

 gamopetalous, campanulate, externally pilose, tube short, limb plaited. Stamens 

 5, on corolla at base, filaments subulate, minutely hairy, purple, white near apex, 

 one quarter as long as corolla ; anthers linear, curved, versatile. Style filiform, 

 stigma 2-lobed, lobes oblong. Ovary superior, pilose, 1 -celled, 4-ovuled. Capsule 

 globose, pilose, 4-valved, 3-lobed, 1 -celled, 2-3 seeded by abortion. Seeds 

 glabrous. 



Habitat : Natal : Inanda, 1,800 feet alt, December, Wood No. 788 ; near 

 Durban, 150 feet alt, January, Wood. 



A not uncommon plant in the coast districts, found usually at edges of woods 

 and climbing over shrubs. It has hitherto been considered to be the only one of 

 its genus, but a plant gathered by Mr. R. Schlechter in Transvaal is believed to 

 belong to the same genus, but so far as we are aware it has not yet been described, 

 a small specimen given by Mr. Schlechter is in the Colonial Herbarium, but in 

 general appearance it is very different to the plant here described. In " Harvey's 

 Genera of South African Plants " If. bicolor appears as Shuterevi bicolor but the 

 genus Shutereia has since been abolished. It is also said to be a native of " sea 

 shores near Natal " but as will be seen we have gathered it at an altitude of 1,800 

 feet above the sea level. The natives have no specific name for it and do not 

 apply it to any use. 



Fig. 1, calyx opened ; 2, lower portion of tube showing attachment of stamens ; 

 3, a stamen; 4, disk, ovary style and stigma; 5, fruit about natural size ; 6, cross 

 section of same ; except fig. 6, n,ll enlarged. 



