THE SOUTH AFRICAN GERBERAS. 



249 



preceding, with yellow ray-florets. The leaves of the former are 

 used by the Kaffirs to bind on their wounds, according to Burtt-Davy. 



Gerbera plantaginea, Harvey in Haw. & Sond. 



Leaves in tufts of two to six, straggling, or laxly spreading ; petiole 

 |— 3j inches long, sparsely white straggly-haired, brownish ; blade 

 oblanceolate-oblong or obovate-oblong, obtuse or subacute, tapering 

 gradually from about the middle into the sheathing petiole, 2-5 

 inches long, J—i J inch long, thin in texture, light green on both surfaces, 

 glabrous above at maturity, at first cobwebby, then thinly pubescent 

 or pilose on the midrib, its three to six pairs of yellowish nerves below ; 

 margin entire or with distant very obscure obtuse teeth, sparingly ciliate 

 or glabrous. Scapes one or two to a plant, slender, ebracteate, 6-12 

 inches long, white-felted towards the apex, glabrescent and brownish, 

 or with long scattered hairs towards the base. Involucral scales 

 2-3-seriate, acuminate, white-villous or pubescent, J-| inch long. 

 Flower-head |-if inch long. Ray-florets ascending or spreading, 

 narrow, scarcely double the length of the longest involucral bracts, 

 yellow or saffron-red, or white within and pink without. Disc-florets 

 purple. Pappus violet-purple. 



Distribution. Kalahari Region, Transvaal; Magaliesberg, B^/;'^^ and 

 Zeyher, Pretoria ; on hills above the Aapies River, Rehmann, 4432 ! 

 Eastern Region, Natal ; Mooi River, Oct. 24, 1888, Wood, 4050 ! 



Var. pusilla, Diimmer, var. no v.* 



Very similar to the type, but differentiated by the relatively 

 dwarfer habit, differently shaped leaves, and longer ray-florets. Crown 

 bulbous, white lanuginose. Leaves two to five, rosulate, shortly 

 petiolate ; petiole not exceeding J inch, white and softly hirsute ; blade 

 ovate or elliptic, subacute, 1-2 inches long, inch broad, equally dull 

 light green and covered sparingly with a white indumentum, either 

 of a short or long and silky character, on both surfaces. Scape 1-6 

 inches long. Ray-florets more than double the length of the involucral 

 bracts. 



Distribution. Kalahari Region, Transvaal ; in fields near Pretoria, 

 4000 feet, Sept. 1875, MacLea, 3123 ! 



G. plantaginea, characterized when in fruit by the violet-purple 

 pappus, is sparingly represented in the Transvaal and Natal, where it 

 usually occurs on grassy stretches of the hills and fields. A specimen 

 recently gathered by Burtt-Davy on shallow gravelly soil at elevations 

 of 4832 feet at Pinedene near Irene may perhaps be identical with 

 this species, but the leaves are too immature to decide this point. 



G. giandulosa, Diimmer, sp. nov.f 



Leaves tufted, five, ascending, distinctly petiolate ; petiole f-2j 



* G. plantaginea var. pusilla Diimmer. Typae persimilis sed habitu humi- 

 (liore, foliis ellipticis brevioribus latioribusque difEert. (Herb. Kew. et Bolus.) 



t giandulosa Diimmer. Species nova, valde distincta, petiolis scapisque 

 :stipitate glandulosis. {Junod, 567, Herb. Kew.) 



