Scrophulariaceae. Tribe Gerardieae.
Harveya, Hook.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 967.
Harveya squamosa, Steud. Nomencl. Bot. ed. 2, i. 723: Fl. Cap. iv. sect 2, p. 413.
The Genus Harveya contains 27 species, all of which are parasitic on the roots of other plants. In South Africa 21 species are recorded, the remainder being found in Tropical Africa and the Mascarene Islands. The name was given by Sir William Hooker in commemoration of Dr. Harvey, who was one of the pioneers of South African systematic botany. The plant belongs to a group known as total parasites, i.e. it is wholly dependent on its host for its food supply. Specialised roots technically known as “haustoria” penetrate the roots of the host plant and absorb the requisite food material.
The species here figured occurs in the Cape Peninsula, all along the western coastal districts to Clanwilliam and Van Rhynsdorp and into Little Namaqualand. It has also been recorded from the sand-dunes near Durban in Natal. The specimens from which our plate was prepared were collected by Mrs. E. Rood at Van Rhynsdorp, and are preserved in the National Herbarium, Pretoria (Herb. No. 1456).
Description:—A herbaceous plant about 13 cm. high. Scale leaves 8 mm. long, 1 cm. broad, ovate, acuminate, pubescent without. Inflorescence racemose, densely many-flowered, 2·5 cm. in diameter, more or less cylindric; axis 1 cm. in diameter near base, narrowing upwards. Bracts 1-2 cm. long, ·5-·9 cm. broad, oblong or obovate-spathulate, obtuse, glandular pilose without; bracteoles 2, opposite at base of the calyx, 3 cm. long, 1·5 mm. broad, linear, glandular-pilose. Pedicels 1 cm. long, fleshy. Calyx-tube 2·5 cm. long, 7 mm. in diameter, tubular, glandular-pilose without, glabrous within; lobes 1·5-1·7 cm. long, 3 mm. broad at the base, gradually tapering from a triangular base. Corolla-tube 3 cm. long, 4 mm. in diameter, tubular, glandular-pilose without and also within about the middle; lobes 4 mm. long, 5 mm. broad, semiorbicular, rounded above, somewhat concave, glandular-pubescent without. Stamens attached to the middle of the corolla tube; filaments of 2 different lengths; the longer 1·6 cm. long; the shorter 1·3 cm. long; all sparsely covered with glandular hairs; anthers with one fertile lobe and one unfertile lobe. Ovary 5 mm. long, 4 mm. in diameter; style 2·5 cm. long, terete, sparsely covered with a few glandular hairs; stigma clavate, faintly 2-lobed.