16 



PLATE 285. 



Sphaeralcea pannosa, Bolus (Journ. Linn. Soo. Vol. XXV. p. 156). 

 Natural Order, Malvacej:. 



An erect branching shrub, bearing pink flowers, all parts except the petals 

 stellate tomentose. Stems 3 to 5 feet high, branches erect, terete, smooth, light 

 coloured. Leaves alternate, stipulate, petiolate, palmately 3 to 5 lobed, or parted ? 

 lobes oblong, upper one much the largest, coarsely and irregularly crenate, apex 

 acute or acuminate, densely incano-tomentose beneath, minutely scabrous and 

 green above, veins and veinlets very prominent beneath, less conspicuously so 

 above, the whole leaf spreading to 8 or 9 inches long and wide, the lowest ones 

 much the largest. Stipules subulate, deciduous, brown, 2 to 3 lines long. 

 Petioles terete, 1 to 6 inches long. Inflorescence axillary and terminal, peduncles 



1 to 4 flowered, 1 to If inch long ; pedicels 6 to 10 lines long. Epicalyx deeply 

 3 lobed, externally covered with filiform processes, margin deeply and irregularly 

 toothed; shorter thon calyx tube. Calyx 5-cleft, tube campanulate, lobes oblong 

 acuminate, erect, the whole calyx 7 lines long. Petals 5, obovate, glabrous, rosy 

 pink, 9 lines long, 6 to 7 lines wide. Stamens numerous, monadelphous, antheri- 

 ferous at and below the apex of the staminal column. Ovary many celled, cells 



2 to 3 ovuled ; styles as many as cells of the ovary ; stigmas capitate. Carpels at 

 maturity separating from the axis. 



Habitat : Natal : Upper districts. Near top of Mount Erskine 6-7,000 feet 

 alt, January, Evans No. 402; Sevenfontein, 3-4,000 feet alt, March, Wylie {Wood 

 No. 8100). 



Drawn and described from plants in Natal Botanic Gardens, which were 

 reared from seed brought by Mr. Wylie from Sevenfontein. 



A handsome shrub with pink flowers, which is well worthy of cultivation, but 

 the plants that have flowered in the Botanic Gardens appear to bear fewer and 

 rather smaller flowers and somewhat larger leaves than is usual in the wild state, 

 probably the climate does not suit the plant. It appears to be plentiful in East 

 Griqualand and was originally described by Mr. Bolus from numerous dried 

 specimens gathered by Mr. W. Tyson in that locality. The genus contains about 

 26 species, chiefly natives of the warmer parts of America, 5 are found in South 

 Africa, but S. pannosa is the only one that reaches Natal. 



Fig. 1, calyx and epicalyx ; 2, flower, calyx and corolla removed ; 3, staminal 

 column opened ; 4, ovary, style and stigma ; all enlarged. 



