21 



PLATE 290. 



Btjoomis punctata, L'Herit. (Fl. Cap. Vol. 6, p. 475). 

 Natural Order, Liliaoe^. 



A bulbous plant with raceme of greenish- white, purple edged flowers. Bulb 

 globose, or ovoid, tunicate, 2 to 3 inches diameter. Leaves 6 or more, oblanceolate, 

 at length 6 to 12 inches long in our specimens, 2 to 3 inches broad in centre, en- 

 tire, obtuse, with recurved mucro, green, purple spotted from base to near apex, 

 not undulated, glabrous. Inflorescence racemose, crowned with a tuft of leaves at 

 apex. Peduncle terete, 8 to 12 inches long, cylindrical, spotted and broadly lined 

 with purple. Raceme laxly many flowered, the floriferous portion 2 to 3 inches 

 long at apex of peduncle which is crowned by a rosette of about 20 or more oblong 

 or obovate leafy bracts which are green, margined with purple. Pedicels patent, 

 finally reflexed ; bracts ; lower ovate, upper oblong, acute, membranous, 4 to 5 

 lines long. Perianth 6-parted nearly to base, its lobes erect, oblong, obtuse, 

 greenish white, margined with purple, 1-nerved. Stamens 6, opposite perianth 

 segments, and attached to them at base, included ; filaments lanceolate-deltoid, 

 whitish at base, purple upwards, connate at base ; anthers small, oblong, 2-celled, 

 versatile. Ovary sessile, 3-lobed, 3-celled, many ovuled ; style cylindrical, equal- 

 ling stamens ; stigma obtuse. Capsule not seen. 



Habitat: Natal: Upper districts. 



Drawn and described from a specimen brought by Mr. WyHe from edge of 

 wood near Bulwer in 1901, and grown in Botanic Gardens, flowering in March, 

 1902. 



The above described plant belongs to a genus containing 9 species only, 8 of 

 which are South African, and the other a native of the highlands of Central Africa, 

 and of these six are know to inhabit Natal, all are remarkable for the coma or 

 crown of leafy bracts which terminate the peduncle. The species here described 

 agrees better with E. humilis than with any other species described in the Flora 

 Capensis, but differs from it in the bracts which better agree with those of E. 

 punctata, and in the leaves which in our specimens are scarcely undulate. The 

 different species of Bucomis are very ornamental, and are often seen in cultivation, 

 and one or more of them are used medicinally by the natives. 



Flowering scape and leaf, natural size. Fig. 1, plant reduced ; 2, perianth 

 opened ; 3, ovary style and stigma ; 4, cross section of ovary ; all enlarged. 



