Rhamphicarpa, Benth.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 969.
Rhamphicarpa tubulosa, Benth. in Hook. Comp. Bot. Mag. i. 368; Harv. Thes. Cap. i. 36, t. 57; Fl. Cap. vol. iv. sect. 2, p. 399.
This species belongs to a small genus of plants which are probably parasitic or semi-parasitic herbs. Three species are known in South Africa, and a few from Tropical Africa, East India, and Australia. R. tubulosa also occurs in Tropical, and is the most widely distributed member of the genus in South Africa. In Natal it is always found in moist ground, edges of pools, and similar habitats.
The plate was prepared from plants collected by the late Dr. Medley Wood on the Berea Flats near Durban, Natal.
Description:—A herbaceous plant 12-60 cm. high. Stem erect; simple or occasionally sparsely branched, terete, sometimes furrowed on two sides, glabrous or nearly so. Leaves opposite or subopposite, exstipulate, sessile or nearly so, 2·6-7·5 cm. long, up to 1·2 cm. broad, linear, slightly narrowed at both ends, with entire margins and a prominent midrib, glabrous. Inflorescence a few-flowered raceme; pedicels 1·5-2·5 cm. long. Calyx-tube 1·2 cm. long; lobes spreading, lanceolate, a little shorter than the tube, keeled. Corolla-tube about 2 cm. long, narrowly subcylindric, more or less curved, glabrous or minutely puberulous; lobes 1·5 cm. long, 0·8 cm. broad, obovate, rounded, the upper 2 connate high up. Stamens 4, in 2 pairs; filaments clothed with long hairs, the upper pair shorter than the lower pair; anthers 1-celled, oblong, dorsifixed. Ovary oblong-ovoid; style terete; stigma thickened. Capsule 1·2 cm. long, 8 mm. in diameter, obliquely ovoid, obliquely beaked at the apex, glabrous.
Plate 50.—Fig. 1, plant, natural size; Fig. 2, corolla, front view; Fig. 3, corolla, back view; Fig. 4, stamens; Fig. 5, corolla laid open; Fig. 6, gynaecium; Fig. 7, cross-section of ovary; Fig. 8, calyx; Fig. 9, capsule. All enlarged except Fig. 1.
F.P.S.A., 1922.