Notes on the Anatomy and Morphology of 
Pachypodium namaquanum, Welw. 1 
BY 
D. G. LEE, B.A. 
With Plate LXXXIV and eight Figures in the Text. 
JT) ACHY PODIUM NAMAQUANUM is a member of the family 
A Apocynaceae ; the genus is placed in the tribe Echitoideae by both 
Bentham and Hooker and Engler and Prantl. Its nearest relative is 
Adenium , from which it differs by being covered with spines. There are 
about twelve species, four of which occur in South Africa, the others in 
tropical Africa and Madagascar. One of the South African species is 
found in Zululand, two in the Coast and Central Regions. The fourth, 
P. namaquanum , which has the smallest range, has been found in two 
places: in Great Namaqualand by the Lions River, 2 and in Little Nama- 
qualand at Dabainorup. 3 In addition it was found in Namaqualand by 
Wyley, 4 who gives no definite locality. 
It was first recorded in Lieutenant Paterson’s Travels in Africa, 
Journey 4, Oct. 1779, where it is figured over the class-name Pentandria 
monogynia, and is represented as having only two spines on each protuber- 
ance. He writes as follows 2 : ‘At noon we passed the Lions River, the banks 
of which are in general inhabited by those animals. The country is extremely 
barren, and covered with small sharp stones, which proved very injurious to 
our horses’ hoofs. In the evening we arrived at a small brackish fountain 
where we staid all night, and next day our way lay through a narrow path 
between two mountains. I found here the most beautiful plant I ever saw 
of the Pentandria monogynia class. It grows to six feet high, and is full 
of long spines from the ground to the top, and forms a large crown of 
crisped leaves and reddish tubelar (sic) flowers, tinged with yellow and 
green.’ Paterson’s description is quoted in Harvey’s 6 Thesaurus Capensis’, 
where, in addition, the leaf and flower are figured and described under the 
1 Percy Sladen Memorial Expedition in South-west Africa, 1908-9, Report No. 16. This 
investigation was assisted by a grant from the Union Government. 
2 Paterson ( 2 ), p. 124 (with plate). The exact position of this locality is uncertain. 
3 Pearson ( 3 ). 4 Harvey (1). 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXVI. No. CIII. July, 1912.] 
3 p 
