Refugium Botanieum.| ) April, 1868. 
TAB. 9. 
Natural Order AscLEPIADACE. 
Tribe STAPELIES. 
Genus Bracuystetma, R. Br. 
B.? ARNortit, n.sp. Radice napiformi, caule erecto ramoso puberulo, 
foliis subsessilibus ovato-spathulatis crispis, corolla rotata segmentis 
lanceolatis reflexis, corona subbiseriata, dentibus exterioribus erectis 
emarginatis, interioribus truncatis staminibus oppositis, stigmate 
peltate. 
Root napiform, between fleshy and corky, two to three inches 
thick, projecting a little above the soil, the top nearly flat, the 
outer coat membranous, naked, pale brown. Stem four to six 
inches high, erect, slightly branched, slender, herbaceous, finely 
gray-pubescent. eaves nearly sessile, in opposite pairs, ovate- 
spathulate, erecto-patent, crisped, one-fourth to three-eighths of 
an inch long, folded together, dull green above, densely gray- 
pubescent beneath. Flowers one to three from the axils of the 
leaves. Pedicels at first very short and ascending, becoming three 
to four lines long and considerably deflexed by the time the 
flowers expand, finely gray-pubescent. Calyx not more than half 
a line deep, cleft nearly to the base, finely gray-pubescent, the 
teeth linear. Corolla five-cleft three-quarters of the way down, 
the divisions velvety, bright brown, lanceolate, retlexed, an eighth 
of an inch deep, the tip green. Staminal corona subbiseriate, the 
outer row consisting of five erect greenish horns, which are alter- 
nate with the stamens, dilated and emarginate at the apex, the 
inner row of short truncate greenish processes inflexed against 
the back of the dilated yellow connectives. Stigma peltate. 
A very curious little plant, sent by Dr. Arnott from the Pro- 
vince of Colesberg, in South Africa, to the Royal Gardens at 
Kew, which we are indebted to Dr. Hooker for the opportunity 
of figuring. From Brachystelma, as defined in De Candolle’s 
‘Prodromus,’ it differs by its almost rotate corolla, and by the 
character of the corona, which in Brachystelma consists of five 
teeth opposite the stamens. Our plant has the teeth alternate, 
with the stamens and short intermediate processes inflexed 
against them, so that it is intermediate between Brachystelma 
and Harvey’s Decaceras, which has ten equal teeth.—J. G. B. 
