PLATE 306. 
SoiLLA MEGAPHYLLA, Baker (Fl. Cap. Vol. VI. p. 490). 
Natural Order, Liliaceae. 
Bulb large, 4 inches or more diameter, tunics tliin, veiny. Leaves sessile, 
lorate-lanceolate, 1^ foot long, 3 to 3^ inches broad in centre, acute at apex where 
the extreme margins are strongly infolded (in young specimens at least), a little 
narroAved to base, the parallel veins in lower portion of the outer leaves dark 
coloured. Peduncles, several to each hu\h, 9 to 12 inches long, flattened in lower 
portion, somewhat angular above, usually thickly covered with minute red spots 
in central portion, sometimes dull red in upper part. Raceme (in our specimens) 
4^ to inches long, 1^ to H inches diameter, laxly many flowered; pedicels erect 
or patent, 4 to 5 lines long ; bracts subulate from a broad base, 2^ lines long. 
Perianth light green, campanulate, segments 8, oblong, acute, 2f lines long, green 
in centre, margins whitish. Stamens 6, equalling perianth lobes, filaments white, 
anthers ovate, versatile. Ovary sessile, 3-celled, cells 2-ovuled, ovules collateral ; 
style a little longer than the stamens ; stigma minute, truncate. Capsule 
loculicidally 3-valved. 
Habitat: Natal : Zululand, /. ^Y^/lie {Wood, No. 8645). Also in Transvaal. 
Amongst the Natal species of Scilla this one is well distinguished by the size 
of its mature leaves as compared with the size of the bulb and inflorescence. It 
was first found by Mr. Gal pin in " damp grassy hollows near Barberton," at an 
altitude of 2,800 feet. Bulbs were afterwards brought from Zululand by Mr. 
Wylie and grown in the Botanic Grardens, Durban (Wood, No. 8645), but the leaves 
have not attained their full size here. 
In Fig. 7 the artist has shown the ovary with all the ovules present, but we 
have seldom found more than one cell in the ovary with two ovules. In Mr. 
Galpin's 1184, a specimen of which is in the herbarium received from Mr. Galpin, 
the ovaries are too small for us to be able to ascertain whether this is so in plants 
gathered in the wild state. 
Fig. 1, bulb with leaves and young flowers reduced; 2, raceme, nat. size; 3, 
leaf al)out nat. size ; 4, flower ; 5, perianth and stamen; 6, pistil ; 7, cross-section 
of ovary ; except Figs. 1, 2, 3, all enlarged. 
