PLATE 309. 
DatBercia opovata, E. Meyer (FI. Cap. Vol. II., p. 265). 
Natural Order, LiG@uMINosag. 
A wide climbing unarmed shrub with white flowers. Bark greyish, glabrous. 
Leaves alternate, unequally pinnate, exstipulate; common petiole, 3 to 6 inches 
long, brown velvetty, swollen at base. Leaflets 2 to 4 on each side, irregularly 
alternate, oblong-ovate or obovate, margins entire, emarginate at apex, rounded at 
base, dark green and shining above, pale and dull beneath; 12 to 4 inches long, 
1 to 2 inches wide; petioles 2 to 3 lines long, velvetty ; terminal leaflet similar to 
the others, but a little larger, its petiole nearly an inch long, swollen in upper 
portion. Inflorescence paniculate, the branches of the panicle corymbose, velvetty 
pubescent. Calyx gamosepalous, campanulate, 5-fid pubescent, 3 lines long, the 
two upper teeth connate almost to apex, obtuse, lateral ones smaller, lowest longest, 
acute. Corolla papilionaceous, white; vexillum oblong, alae narrow oblong, carina 
petals connate above, free below; all clawed. Stamens 10, monadelphous, 
included, the staminal tube split to base; anthers similar, ovate, 2-celled. Ovary 
superior, stipitate, 2 ovuled, style short, stigma obtuse. Legume oblong or broadly 
lanceolate, flat, acute or obtuse at apex, tapering at base to a short stipe, strongly 
net-veined, rusty pubescent; 14 to 2 inches long, 6 to 7 lines wide, | or 2-seeded. 
Seeds compressed, subreniform, brown, 3% lines by 23. 
Habitat: Natrau: At margins of woods all over the colony. Inanda, Wood; 
near Durban, 150 feet alt., Wood; Qudeni, Zululand, 6,000 feet alt., Davies, 
No. 90. 
Drawn and described from plants gathered near Durban. 
A stout shrub, climbing by means of hooked depauperated twigs or branchlets, 
it is often found in company with VD. armata, which is described in “ Natal Plants,” 
Vol. I., plate 79. It is easily distinguished from the other two South African 
species by its larger and fewer leaflets. 1t is known to the natives as Manyenyaan 
or Panhlas, and they calcine the bark and use the ashes for mixing with their 
snuff. The galls shown in the drawing are very curious, and so far as we are 
aware are found on this species only. 
Sig. 1, flower; 2, calyx opened; 3, vexillum; 4, carina; 5, ala; 6, staminal 
tube opened; 7, ovary style and stigma; 8, legume; 9, ovule; LO, insect gall. 
Fig. 8 natural size, remainder all enlarged. 
