African and Madagascar Flowering Plants, 353 
from a vertical slit facing the vexillum, and I find that after 
fertilisation it grows forward till it takes a position inclined at 
180 0 to its original angle. The nectary is in the form of a 
band embracing the stipitate ovary (Fig. 83). 
Rhyne osia crassifolia, Bth, 
This has a general similarity to Vigna and the rest of 
the Phaseoleae. The odd stamen is similarly expanded and 
clasped by the arching claw of the vexillum. The carina 
has longitudinal bulgings on the side, which are fitted by 
depressions of the alae above, and a short tooth developed 
from the inferior margin of the alae below. The carina is 
distinctly turned to the left towards the tip (cf. Vigna and 
Phaseolus ), and the style emerges with the pollen borne on a 
mass of hairs below it.— -Durban. 
Virgilia capensis, L , 
In this flower the stamens and style emerge simply. The 
alae overlap one another below the carina, and their auricles 
also fit over those of the carina above, while there are slight 
swellings on the carinal upper margins which are fitted by 
grooves on the alae. Hence on depression the carina opens 
out, leaving free passage for the style. Although the stamens 
are not united for more than one-tenth of an inch, they form 
practically a sheath, as the edges of the alternate stamens are 
expanded (overlapping the others), and hairs are developed 
along these edges. Visitors : — Xylocopa violaceal and another 
large bee very abundant. — Near Cape Town. 
Cotyledon ramosissima, Salm. 
The scales of the disc are in this species flat and mem- 
branous and stretch across the spaces between the projecting 
backs of the five carpels so as to form pockets which are 
usually full of nectar. The filaments of the stamens, at about 
3 lines from the base, become suddenly much thickened 
and hairy, and as these thickenings fit closely together, they 
form a kind of roof completely covering the lioney-pockets. — 
Somerset East. 
