PLATE 393. 
ViTis QUABBANGULARis, Lin. (Fl. Tropical Africa, Vol. I., p. 399. 
Natural Order, Ampblide^. 
A wide climbing branching plant with succulent, quadrangular, green, winged 
stems and branches which are constricted at the nodes, deeply furrowed especially 
the younger portions, the angles acute and more or less winged, the wings not 
ciliate, the whole plant quite s^labrous. Leaves alternate, very few, petiolate, 
stipulate, usually deeply ;3-lobed, the lateral lobes patent, almost truncate, and 
obscurely 3-lobed, and mucronate, the tei mmal lobe erect, trilobed at apex, the 
lobes mucronate, the sinuses wide and rounded; occasionally a leaf is broadly 
ovate, with 2 or 3 shallow mucronate lobes on each side ; texture rather thick, 
lateral veins more or less immersed ; dark green and shining on both surfaces ; 1 
to 2 inches wide, f to 1 inch long (in our specimens), petiole 3 to 8 lines long, 
channelled above ; stipules broadly ovate or semi-rotund, membranous edged, 2 to 
3 lines long and wide ; tendrils long, slender, furnished with a minute deciduous 
bract. Inflorescence cymose, the cymes lateral, compound. Peduncles 6 to 12 
inches long, many flowered, pedicels ^ to ^ inch long. Calyx cyathiform, bluntly 
and indistinctly lobed. Petals 4, greenish-yellow on inner surface, outer brownish, 
hooded at apex, reflexed and very soon deciduous, 1^ by 1^ line long. Disk cup- 
shaped, entire. Stamens 4, filaments very short, erect; anthers 2-celled, dorsi- 
fixed. Ovary superior, 2-celled, cells 2-seeded. Fruit ^ inch long by 4 lines wide, 
ovate, red when ripe. 
Habitat : Natal : Zululand, Wood, 9935. 
Drawn and described from a plant brought from Somkeli, Zululand, and 
which flowered in the Botanic Grardens, Durban, October, 1905. 
A singular wide climbing plant which trails over trees and shrubs, and has 
very much the appearance of a member of the Cactus family ; the fruit is said to 
be eatable. It is also found in tropical Africa, Arabia, India and the Moluccas. 
Fig. 1, portion of stem and inflorescence, natural size ; 2, branch and leaves, 
natural size; 3, a bud ; 4, flower; 5, petal; 6, stamen, front view; 7, same, back 
view ; 8, disk, ovary, style and stigma ; 9, cross section of ovary ; 10, portion of 
tendril showing bract; except jigs. 1 and 2, all enlarged. 
