Refugium Botanicum. | [September, 1869. 
TAB. 157. 
Natural Order ASCLEPIADACEA. 
Tribe GONOLOBE. 
Genus Riocreuxtia (Decaisne in D.C. Prodr. viii. p. 140). Calyx par- 
vus, quinquepartitus, sepalis linearibus. Corolla e basi ventricosa 
lageneeformis, limbi quinquefidi laciniis linearibus apice coherentibus 
elabris. Gynostegium inclusum, stipitatum, obsolete pentagonum. 
Corona staminea biseriata, foliolis inferioribus angustis patentibus 
rigidiusculis subcalcaratis ad summum gynostegium insertis, supe- 
rioribus antheris oppositis brevissimis. Anthere apice simplices. 
Masse pollinis erecte, ventricose, apice pellucido oblique incurvato. 
Stigma pentagonum, obscure apiculatum. Folliculi graciles, lon- 
gissimi, leves, torulosi. Semina comosa.—Harv. Gen. Cap. edit. 2. 
p. 240. 
R. ToruLosa (Decaisne loc. cit.) Pubescens, late scandens, foliis petio- 
latis ovato-cordatis, floribus in umbellis 6—10-floris sessilibus vel 
pedunculatis dispositis. — Ceropegia ? torulosa, EH. Meyer, Com. p. 
194; Deless. Ic. Sel. v. t. 21. 
A native of Cape Colony. 
Root tuberous, perennial. Stems attaining a length of eight 
or ten feet, but only annual, twining copiously, firm, round, 
slender, clothed upwards with fine gray pubescence. Leaves 
opposite ; the petioles one or two inches long; the blade cordate- 
ovate, three to five inches long when fully developed by three- 
quarters as broad, acute, quite entire, the basal lobes deep and 
broadly rounded on the inner edge, the texture thin and flaccid, 
the colour a moderate green, both sides inconspicuously downy 
all over. Flowers in umbels of six to ten flowers each, either 
sessile in the axils of the leaves or one to three contiguous or a 
space apart on slender downy peduncles. Pedicels very slender, 
eight to twelve lines long. Calyx a line across, cut down to the 
base into five spreading linear sepals. Corolla flask-shaped, pale 
yellow, six to ten lines long, cut about a third of the way down 
into five setaceous lobes which cohere permanently at the tip. 
Gynostegium minute, not more than a quarter as deep as the ball 
of the corolla, stipitate, the corona with a row of long spur-like 
teeth alternate with the anthers, and a pair of much shorter ones 
between each of these. Anthers yellow, overtopping the pen- 
tagonal stigma. Pollen-masses erect, ovoid, with incurved tips. 
