Plate 30. 



CEKOPEGIA Meyeri. 



Cape Province, Transvaal, Natal. 



Asclepiadaceae. Tribe Ceeopegieae. 

 Ceeopegia, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. ii. p. 779. 



Ceropegia Meyeri, Decne. in DC Prodr. vol. viii. p. 645 ; Fl. Cap. vol. iv. 



sect. 1, p. 828. 



This species was first collected by Drege between the 

 Bashee Biver and Morley, in Tembuland, about the year 

 1831, but the species has been found by several collectors 

 since then. Its altitudinal range of distribution is wide, as it 

 has been recorded by the late Dr. Wood from the sub-tropical 

 climate of Durban and from Oliver's Hoek Pass on the 

 Drakensbergen, which is occasionally covered with snow in 

 the winter months. The plant is a very ornamental twiner, 

 easily cultivated, and well worth the attention of horticul- 

 turists. The accompanying illustration was made from speci- 

 mens growing in the garden of the Natal Herbarium at 

 Durban. 



Description : — Rootstock a flattened tuber. Stem herba- 

 ceous, twining, up to 10 metres long, pubescent. Leaves 

 petioled ; lamina 1- 7-2*8 cm. long, 3-5*9 cm. broad, cordate- 

 ovate or lanceolate-ovate, acute, somewhat acuminate, cordate 

 or rounded at the base, more or less pubescent or rarely sub- 

 glabrous on both sides, with the margins variously toothed 

 or lobed. Petiole 1-4 cm. long, pubescent. Inflorescence 

 2-4-flowered, cymose, sessile or subsessile at the nodes. 

 Pedicels 06-1-1 cm. long, villous. Sepals 8-11 mm. long, 

 1 mm. broad at the base, subulate, pubescent. Corolla-tube 

 whitish at the lowermost third, streaked with purple lines above, 

 2-5-3*1 cm. long, bottle-shaped, inflated and cylindric-oblong 

 in the basal two-thirds, and narrowed into a cylindric neck 

 above, then abruptly dilated at the mouth, glabrous without 

 and within except at the throat ; lobes almost black, connate 

 at the tips, 1-1*2 cm. long, 3 mm. broad at the base, linear, 



