Our illustration was made and the description drawn up from specimens collected at Merebank, Natal.
Description:—Stem short, thick, woody. Leaves petioled; petioles 3·1 to 7·5 cm. long, hispid; lamina 6·5 to 8·1 cm. long and broad, cordate, obtuse, somewhat lobed, with the lobes rounded and irregularly and sharply serrate, 5-veined at the base, glabrous above, hispid with minute short hairs beneath, more thickly on the margins; stipules broadly ovate, acute, ciliate. Inflorescence an umbel of 6 to 12 flowers. Peduncle up to 20 cm. long, hispid. Bracts 3 to 4·5 cm. long, oblong, acute, hispid, ciliate. Sepals 5, oblong-lanceolate, acute, densely and minutely hispid, shorter than the petals. Petals 5, rather unequal, 1 to 1·2 cm. long, obovate, yellowish-white with a purple blotch. Stamens 10, monadelphous, unequal; 6 stamens fertile; the remainder without anthers, of[{108}] these 3 are short and subulate and 1 broad and acute. Stigmas 5, filiform. Fruit not seen.
Plate 146.—Fig. 1, calyx; Fig. 2, longitudinal section of the flower showing the monadelphous stamens; Fig. 3, petals; Fig. 4, stamens; Fig. 5, pistil; Fig. 6, cross-section through the ovary.
F.P.S.A., 1924.
