58 
CARDIOSPERMUM LINN. 
C. halicacabum Linn. 
A herbaceous climber. Stems deeply five-furrowed with prominent ridges, scantily 
pubescent. Leaves 3-6 cm. long, trifoliate, each leaflet of the first order digitately divided 
into three leaflets of the second order ; petiole 1 -5-1-8 cm. long, furrowed, pilose ; petiole 
of leaflets 8-11 cm. long, similar to the petiole of the leaf; ultimate leaf-segments 
1-5-2-5 cm. long, 0-5-1-3 cm. broad, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acute, hirsute above. 
glabrous beneath except on the veins, with the margins deeply cut into 2-3 lobes. 
Inflorescence a compound umbel with three principal peduncles, axillary; primary 
peduncle 3-7 -2 cm. long, four-angled, pilose, and bearing at the apex two spirally-coiled 
tendrils ; secondary peduncles 8-1-7 cm. long, scantily pubescent. Sepals unequal; the 
smaller 2 mm. long, 2 mm. broad, ovate, rounded above, glabrous ; the larger 5 mm. long, 
2-5 mm. broad, obovate, obtuse. Petals similar to the larger sepals. Stamens eccentric ; 
staminal tube 1-5 mm. long; free portion of filaments 2-5-3 mm. long, linear, glabrous, 
sometimes ciliated ; anthers 0-75 mm. long, oblong. Ovary 3 mm. long, eccentric, con- 
sisting of three carpels with a broad dorsal wing and a narrow ventral wing; style none; 
stigmas three, ovate, concave. Torus between the stamens and ovary produced into 
two blunt lobes 5 mm. long. Fruit 2—3-celled bladdery capsule with a single seed in each 
cell: the valves not veined and pubescent with bulbous base hairs. Seeds black, 4 mm. 
ng; 3:5 mm. broad, somewhat globose, glabrous. Sonder in Harv. and Sond., Fl. Cap., 
, 237, Bot. Mag., t. 1049. 
Natal: Verulam, March, Wood 483, and in Colonial Herb. 6795, without locality, 
Sanderson, Gueinzurs. 
DistTRIBUTION : Rhodesia, Pondoland, Transvaal, Bechuanaland Protectorate. 
MELIANTHUS LINN. 
M. villosus Bolus. 
A herbaceous shrub. All parts densely covered with stellate hairs. Branches 
tomentose. Leaves petioled, compound, paripinnate, 5-7-jugate, 8-19 cm. long; petiole 
3-2-5-5 em. long, densely villous; leaflets 2-5-7-5 cm. long, 6-3 cm. broad, lanceolate, 
subacute, slightly narrowed at the base, densely villous, with the margins deeply and 
acutely serrate ; stipules 2-2 cm. long, 4 mm. broad, ovate-lanceolate, long acuminate, 
acute, densely villous. Inflorescence a terminal raceme 28 cm. long. Peduncle 12 cm. 
long, densely villous. Bracts 2-3 cm. long, 1:2 cm. broad, ovate, long acuminate, 
pubescent. Pedicels 2 cm. long, terete, villous. Sepals unequal; lateral sepals 2-6 cm. 
long, 1-3 em. broad, elliptic, obtuse, tomentose within and without; anterior sepal 
1-6 em. long, 1 em. broad, boat-shaped, ovate in outline, long acuminate, densely tomen- 
tose. Petals 1-9 em. long, 2-3 mm. broad, linear, three-lobed above, densely pilose on 
the upper half, with the middle lobe tongue-shaped ; the lateral lobes smaller, sometimes 
rudimentary. Disc in the form of flat fle shy glands 4-5 mm. long, 2 mm. broad, truncate 
at the apex. Filaments 6-9 mm. long, subterete, Eed anthers 4-5 mm. long, 2 mm. 
broad, oblong. Ovary 4 mm. long, pyramidal in outline, four-angled, glabrous, four-celled, 
each cell containing many ovules ; style 5 mm.long, subterete, somewhat falcate, narrowing 
to a blunt point, pubescent ; stigma simple. 
Natal: Rocky Hill, South Downs, 4000-5000 ft., December, Wood 1008, 4376, and 
in Natal Govt. Herb. 5133. 
DISTRIBUTION : Elands River Valley, near Mont-aux-Sources. 
M. insignis, O. Kuntze. I have not seen specimens of this species, but from the 
short description given by ra (Rev. Gen. III; 43) it may possibly be the same as 
M. yellows Bolus. 
