Plate 50. 

 RHAMPHICARPA tubulosa. 

 Cape Province, Natal, Transvaal. 



Sceophulaeiaceab. Tribe Geraedieae. 

 Ehamphicaepa, Benth. ; Benth. et Hook, f. Gen. Plant, vol. ii. p. 969. 



Rhamphicarpa tubulosa, Benth. in Hook. Comp. Bot. Mag. i. 368 ; Harv. 

 TTies. Cap. i. 36, t. 57 ; Fl. Gap. vol. iv. sect. 2, p. 399. 



This species belongs to a small genus of plants which are 

 probably parasitic or serni-parasitic herbs. Three species are 

 known in South Africa, and a few from Tropical Africa, East 

 India, and Australia. R. tubulosa also occurs in Tropical, and 

 is the most widely distributed member of the genus in South 

 Africa. In Natal it is always found in moist ground, edges 

 of pools, and similar habitats. 



The plate was prepared from plants collected by the late 

 Dr. Medley Wood on the Berea Flats near Durban, Natal. 



Description : — A herbaceous plant 12-60 cm. high. Stem 

 erect ; simple or occasionally sparsely branched, terete, some- 

 times furrowed on two sides, glabrous or nearly so. Leaves 

 opposite or subopposite, exstipulate, sessile or nearly so, 

 2 , 5-7'5 cm. long, up to 1*2 cm. broad, linear, slightly narrowed 

 at both ends, with entire margins and a prominent midrib, 

 glabrous. Inflorescence a few-flowered raceme ; pedicels r 5-2*5 

 cm. long. Calyx-tube 1*2 cm. long ; lobes spreading, lanceolate, 

 a little shorter than the tube, keeled. Corolla-tube about 2 cm. 

 long, narrowly subcylindric, more or less curved, glabrous or 

 minutely puberulous; lobes 1*5 cm. long, 0"8 cm. broad, obovate, 

 rounded, the upper 2 connate high up. Stamens 4, in 2 pairs ; 

 filaments clothed with long hairs, the upper pair shorter than 

 the lower pan ;* anthers 1-celled, oblong, dorsifixed. Ovary 

 oblong-ovoid ; style terete ; stigma thickened. Capsule 1*2 

 cm. long, 8 mm. in diameter, obliquely ovoid, obliquely 

 beaked at the apex, glabrous. 



Plate 50.— Pig. 1, plant, natural size ; Fig. 2, corolla, front view ; Pig. 3, 

 corolla, back view ; Pig. 4, stamens ; Pig. 5, corolla laid open ; Pig. 6, 

 gynaecium ; Fig. 7, cross-section of ovary ; Pig. 8, calyx ; Fig. 9, capsule. All 

 enlarged except Fig. 1. 



F.P.S.A., 1922. 



