Plate 44.
CEROPEGIA tristis.
Cape Province, Natal.
Asclepiadaceae. Tribe Ceropegieae.
Ceropegia, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 779.
Ceropegia tristis, Hutchinson, sp. nov.; affinis C. Haygarthii, Schlechter, sed foliis sub anthesi bene evolutis, calyce majori, corollae lobis brevissime stipitatis differt.
Scandens; caulis carnosus, glaber. Folia breviter petiolata matura 3·5-6 cm. longa, 1·5-3·5 cm. lata, late oblonga vel oblongo-ovata, apice breviter apiculata, basi cordata, glabra; nervi laterales utrinsecus circiter 4, patuli; petioli circiter 1 cm. longi. Cymae axillares, triflorae; pedicelii usque ad 1·5 cm. longi, teretes, glabri. Sepala lineari-filiformia, 3-4 mm. longa, glabra, marginibus leviter hyalinis. Corolla basi subglobosa, supra basin curvato-erecta, circiter 6 cm. longa, superne turbinata, apice 2 cm. diametro, extra glabra, maculata, intra leviter pilosa, lobis e basi lata attenuatis in columnam brevem cohaerentibus, deinde apice corpusculam globosam 5-fenestratum ciliatam formantibus. Corona exterior cupularis, lobis 5 latis emarginatis columna staminalis sequilonga intra pilis longis gracilibus ciliatis; corona interior erecta, lobis conniventibus apice recurvatis. Follicula circiter 14 cm. longa, falcato-recurvata, apice sub-uncinata.—J. H.
In our last number (Plate 39) we figured a species of Ceropegia Rendallii, which belongs to a group of the genus characterised by having the corolla-lobes united into an umbrella-like canopy supported by five short stalks. The present species has the corolla-lobes free at the base, then connate into a slender column, again becoming free and then connate at the tips, forming a small terminal cage-like body.