Plate 4. 



CYETANTHUS contractus.* 

 Transvaal, 



Amaryllidaceae. Tribe Amarylleae. 

 Cyrtanthus, Ait. ; Benth. et HooJe.f. HooTc.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 729. 



Cyrtanthus contractus, N.E. Br. 



Cyrtanthus contractus ; Bulbus 4-6 cm. diametro, ovoideus, brunneus. Folia 

 2-3, adscendentia, 30-50 cm. longa, 8-12 mm. lata, linearia, longe et 

 acutissime acuminata, basi in petiolum teretem angustata, glabra. Pedun- 

 culus 18 cm. vel ultra longus, ad 1 cm. diametro, teres, fistularis, glaber, 

 purpurascens, ad apicem 4-10-florus. Bracteae 4-5-5 cm. longae, basi 

 8 mm. lati, lineari-attenuatae, membranaceae. Pedicelli adscendentes, 

 2-4 cm. longi, rubri. Perianthium nutante, coccineum; tubus 5-6 cm. 

 longus, ad medium leviter ventricosum et circa 8 mm. diametro, basi 

 longe et valde contractus et circa 1-5-2 mm. diametro; lobi 1*3 to 1*5 

 cm. longi, 7 mm. lati, elliptico-ovati, acuti. Stamina perianthii lobis 

 breviora ; antherae luteae. Ovarium 1 cm. longum, ovoideum. Stylus 

 inclusus, stigmatibus recurvis. Semina complanata, atrata. — N. E. Brown. 



Transvaal: on kopjes near Mooi Plaates farm, in the vicinity of Pretoria, 

 Miss J. Stuart. 



The specimens from which our drawing was made were 

 collected by Miss J. Stuart of Pretoria, on the slopes of stony 

 kopjes near the farm " Mooi Plaates," about 5 miles out of 

 Pretoria. During the spring months the plant is very con- 

 spicuous on the kopjes when it flowers freely, usually after the 



* As stated under Plate 3, this plant had been supposed to be a form of 

 C. angustifolius, and that name has unfortunately been printed upon the plate. 

 It proves to be an entirely new species, well characterised by the very slender 

 curved basal part of the flower-tube, and the long, tapering and very acute 

 tips of the leaves, which are narrowed at the base into terete petioles, and 

 also, to judge from the figure, are not produced at the same time as the 

 flowers. In the true G angustifolius, Aiton, the flowers and leaves are pro- 

 duced at the same time, the latter are flat to the base and very shortly pointed 

 at the tips ; the tube of the flower gradually narrows from apex to base 

 without being contracted into a very slender basal part, and is less curved 

 there. 



There is a large-flowered variety of G angustifolius known as var. grandi- 

 fiorus, Baker, which does not seem to be clearly understood in South Africa. 

 A good figure of it, but reduced in size, appears in the Gardeners'' Chronicle, 

 1905, vol. 37, p. 261, f. 110, No. 2.— N. E. Brown. 



