PLATE 391. 
Cyrtanthus obliquus, Ait (Fl. Cap. Vol. VI., p. 219.) 
Natural Order, Amaryllideji. 
Bulb ovoid 2 to 4 inches diameter, tunics browr, membranous. Leaves 6 to 
12, erect, strap-shaped, distichous, entire, obtuse, 1-| to 2 feet long, 1 to 2 inches 
broad, margins smooth, reddish, a little twisted, contemporary with the flowers. 
Peduncle subterete 1 to 2 feet long, ^ to f inch diameter, green, not spotted or 
mottled. Flowers 6 to 12 in an umbel, drooping, inodorous. Spathe valves 4, 
broadly oblong lanceolate, broad based, acuminate, veiny. Pedicels ^ to 1 inch 
long, strongly recurved, Ijracteoles linear-subulate. Perianth 2 to 3 inches long, 
tube twice as long as the segments, yellow-green from base to throat, more or less 
striped and tinged with red, or Ijright red, the lobes green ; im1)ricate, f to 1 inch 
long, ^ inch broad, 1 to I5 inch diameter when open, alternate ones minutely 
hooded and glandular, the others very obtuse. Stamens G, inserted low down in 
the perianth tube, equal, free portion 14 lines long; anthers oblong, inch long, 
reaching a little more than half way up the segments of the corolla. Ovary 
oblong, triangular with very obtuse angles, 3-celled, cells many ovuled, ovules 
superposed. Stigma minutely 3-lobed at apex. Capsule not seen. 
Habitat: Natal: Camperdown, near the Waterworks; flowered in Botanic 
Garden, October, 1905. Wood, No. 9936. 
Three species of this genus have already been figured and described in this 
work, C. angustifolius in Vol. I., p. 5, (/. McKenii, in Vol. I., p. 51, and G. san- 
guineus, in Vol. IV., p. 341. 
In writing the description of 0. ohliqun.'^, I was inclined to think that the 
specimen that we had might possibly belong to an undescribed species, as in com- 
paring it with the description in the Flora Capensis the following differences were 
noted : The leaves are straight not falcate, contemporary with, not produced after 
the flowers, the perianth is straight or nearly so, not curved, the stamens are 
equal, not biseriate, the stigma is 3-lobed, not capitate, the peduncles are green, 
not mottled, the colour of the flower is as at)Ove described, the perianth not 
" tipped with " green, but the lobes are wholly green, the tube only coloured, the 
amount of the red colouring differing more or less in different flowers. I therefore 
sent a specimen of the plant to my friend Dr. H. Bolus, of Capetown, who has 
kindly compared it with his specimen and with ilie figures in Andr. Bot. Rep. t. 
265, and Jacquin's Hort. Schoenbr. t. 75, and he finds that both of these figures 
correspond with our specimens even to the colouriug of the flowers. The plant 
therefore is as above named, but Natal is not credited with it in the Flora Capensis, 
though it appears in the " Preliminary Catalogue of Natal Plants " published in 
1894. I should have said that the only figure that we have of this plant is that 
in Bot. Magazine, Vol XXVIII., t. 1133, published in 1808; the peduncle in this 
figure is represented as mottled, and the perianth lobes barely tipped with green 
The plant is known to the natives as " Matoonga," and is used by them medicinally. 
The flowers are very handsome and the plant well worth cultivation. 
Fig. 1 , flower opened ; 2, apex of inner perianth lobe ; 3, same of outer lobe ; 
4, stamen, front view ; 5, same back view ; 6, style and stigma ; 7, spathe valve ; 
8, bract ; Jigs. 1, 7, 8, natural size ; remainder all enlarged. 
