Plate 82.
MIMETES hottentotica.
Cape Province.
Proteaceae. Tribe Proteeae.
Mimetes, Salisb.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 171.
Mimetes hottentotica, Phillips et Hutchinson, sp. nov. insignis et affinitate M. saxatili Phill. foliis late ellipticis, capitulis paucis stigmate excavato differt.
Rami tomentosi et sparse villosi. Folia 4·5-7·5 cm. longa, 2·2-3·5 cm. lata, elliptica, apice tridentata, dense pubescentia pilis sericeis. Capitula sessilia, 7·5 cm. longa, 8-12-flora, apice ramorum conferta. Involucri bracteae 3-seriatae, 1·7-2 cm. longae, 3-6 mm. latae, lanceolato-ovatae, lineares, vel lineari-lanceolatae, obtusae vel subacutae, villosae, ciliatae. Segmenta perianthii 3·2 cm. longa, linearia, paullo lata, villosa; limbus 6 mm. longus, obovatus, subacuminatus, apice obtusus, villosus. Antherae 2·5 mm. longae, apice obtusae. Squamae hypogynae 3 mm. longae, lineares, apice subacutae. Ovarium 1 mm. longum, villosum; stylus 6·5 mm. longus, glaber; stigma 4 mm. longum, obovoideum, apice obtusum, excavatum.
South Africa: Caledon Division. Hottentot’s Holland Mountains near Hangklip, T. P. Stokoe in National Herbarium, 1641.
Mr. T. P. Stokoe, to whom we are indebted for so many of the interesting plants figured in earlier plates of this work, has again contributed two exquisite species of Mimetes which are both undescribed. Unfortunately, it was not possible at the time to figure both plants, but we hope to publish a figure and description of the second species in our next volume. The genus, which is represented by nine species, falls into two well-defined groups, (a) those with an ovoid stigma (represented by M. capitulata, figured on Plate 58) and (b) those species with a linear stigma (represented by M. palustris, figured on Plate 36). Hitherto only two species of the first group were known, but these recent acquisitions from Mr. Stokoe increases this number to four.
The species figured in the accompanying plate was found on the Hottentot’s Holland Mountains S.E. of Kogelberg and was growing on the banks of a steep, fairly moist slope. When fresh, it is a most beautiful object, certainly one of the most handsome species of the genus. The styles are bright red, white just below the stigma, and the stigma brownish-black. It is characterised by the regular excavations on the surface of the stigma which appear to be receptacles for the pollen grains.