Befwjium Botanicum.] 
[March, 1871. 
TAB. 254. 
Natural Order AscLEPiADACEyE. 
Tribe Asclepiade^. 
Genus Gomphocarpus, R. Br. 
G. PADiFOLius [Baker). Radice tuberoso caide simplici annuo erecto 
tereti glabro 2 — 3-pedali, foliis decussatis sessdibus late ovatis 
cordatis acutis horizontalibus firnao-herbaceis glabris supra viridibus 
subtus glaucis pulcbre reticulato-venulosis, umbellis axillaribus 
6 — 10-floris breviter pedunculatis, pedicellis glabris floribus 2 — 3- 
plo longioribus, sepalis parvis lanceolatis, petalis lanceolatis pur- 
pureo- viridibus reflex is liberis, coronge lobis deltoideis carnosis albo- 
viridibus stigmate paulo brevioribus. 
A native of Natal, discovered by Mr. Thos. Cooper. 
Boot a large perennial tuber. Stem annual, milky, erect, 
unbranclied, two to three feet high, glabrous, pur]3lish green. 
Leaves in close opposite pairs, decussate, sessile, broadly cordate- 
ovate, two to three inches long, acute, quite entire, glabrous, 
horizontal ; the upper surface pale green, more or less tinged 
with purple as they grow old ; the under surface glaucous, with 
the venation beautifully distinct, deeper in colour. Floivers only 
from the axils of the leaves (not terminal), in shortly- stalked 
umbels of six to ten each. Pedicels glabrous, six to nine lines long. 
Calyx green, an eighth of an inch deep ; the sepals lanceolate. 
Corolla three -eighths of an inch deep, the lobes purplish green, 
lanceolate, reflexed when the flower expands. Divisions of the 
crown greenish yellow, quite simple, fleshy, deltoid, rather shorter 
than the large pentagonal stigma. 
Tab. 254. — l, complete flower ; 2, three pollen-masses : all magnified. 
J. G. B. 
A warm-greenhouse plant, delighting in abundance of water 
while growing. It should be grown in sandy loam and peat, and 
allowed plenty of pot-room. Mr. T. Cooper sent me this plant 
from South Africa in the year 1867.— IF. W. S. 
