PLATE 397. 
Melasma sbssiliflorum, Hiern. (Fl. Cap., Vol, IV., p. 35). 
Natural Order, Sorophulaeiace2e. 
An erect herb, simple or loosely branched, 6 to 24 inches hi^h, bearing 
terminal racemes of yellow flowers. Stems and branches leafy, tetragonal, glan- 
dular-hispid with white hairs. Leaves opposite and alternate, snbsessile, broadly 
ovate to lanceolate, acuminate, lower ones obtuse, upper ones acute, margins 
coarsely and more or less acutely toothed or lobed for two thirds their length from 
the base, the upper third quite entire, 5 to 7-veiried, scabrid, ^ to If inch long, 3 
to 13 lines broad. Inflorescence in terminal spikes or racemes, the flowers solitary 
in the axils of the floral leaves which become gradually smaller upwards. Calyx 
5- lobed, tube widely campanulate, lobes triangular, acuminate, ■sparsely ciliate ; 
6- angled, tube 2| lines long, lobes lines, bibracteate at base, bracts 2, linear, 
occasionally broader and lacerate, a little shorter than the calyx, ciliate. Corolla 
one third longer than calyx, tube campanulate, longer than the lobes, limb bila- 
biate, upper lip 2-lobed, erect or a little reflexed, lower 3-lobed, the lobes spread- 
ing, entire, bifid or emarginate. Stamens 4, didynamous, filaments curved, 
glabrous ; anthers 2-celled, mucronate and divei'ging at base, those of the longer 
stamens largest, the highest of the pair having a minute tuft of hairs on the suture 
about f from base, the whole of the cells dehiscing from base to ^ from apex. 
Style longer than stamens, terete, very strongly recurved, oblong-lingulate, the 
stigmatic portion compressed. Ovary globose, quite glabrous, 2-celled, many 
seeded. Capsule enclosed in the calyx, globose, many seeded ; seeds sublinear 
with a very loose testa. 
Habitat : Natal : Near Durban, Wood, 142, and numerous collectors. 
Drawn and described from specimens gathered near Durban, January, 1906. 
A rather singular plant which is most probably parasitic on roots of other 
plants. Though we have examined a large number of flowers we are quite unable 
to find both bracts and bracteoles as stated in the Fl. Capensis, usually the calyx 
is bibracteolate, and the bracts linear, but occasionally they are expanded nnd 
lacerate, showing their close connection with the very numerous floral leaves, the 
flowers also are not sessile, but shortly pedunculate. The corolla tube in its earlier 
stages is quite entire at the base, but when fully expanded it is slit from the base 
upwards possibly by the growth of the ovary, and it is bright yellow without 
markings of any kind. The seeds are somewhat peculiar, the testa or oviter 
covering being exceedingly loose and hollow. The anthers dehisce from the base 
upwards for about two-thirds of their length, and the upper cell of the longest 
anther has a minute tuft of hairs about two thirds or more from base. This plant 
has been known in Natal for many years as Alectra melampyroides (Bth.), but has 
been lately removed to the genus Melasma, The drawings and dissections were 
made from a large number of freshly gathered plants in full flower, not from dried 
specimens. The plant is fairly common all over the Colony, and South Africa 
generally. 
Fig. 1, a bud; 2, calyx ; 3, base of mature corolla showing opening; 4, same 
opened showing insertion of stamens; 5, a stamen, front view; 6, same, back 
view ; 7, pistil ; 8, cross section of ovary ; 9, capsule seen from above ; 10, seed ; 
all enlarged. 
