Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 34 (1896).djvu/36

 20 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FLORA OF SOUTH AFRICA. nitentia, dense imbricata, 2-2-5 mill, longa ; flores terminales sessiles, 6 mill, longi, extus plus minus sericeo-nitentes ; calyx campanulatus, 3 mill, longus, laciniis oblongis obovatisve acutis approximatis, tubo subsequilongis ; vexillum obovatum, alee ob- longfe, carina obtusa, omnibus inter se sub^equilongis, gracillime unguiculatis ; ovarium oblique lanceolatum sericeum, 2-ovulatum. Hab : Cape Colony, South-western Region, on the rocky ridges of the Skurfdebergen near the Gydouw, alt. about 1650 met., fi. Dec, Prof. A. Bodlcin (No. 7574 of my herb.). Flowers yellow. A tufted stunted rigid plant, evidently growing between rocks in a bleak situation. A little like A. argyrella, MacOw., but with leaves much smaller, more closely white-silky, and shining, and with a very different calyx. Like that, it has more resemblance to a Lotononis than an Aspalathus. Very distinct in the section. Aspalathus Gerrardi, n. sp. (§ Laterales). — Eami validi virgati dense foliosi, 25-30 cm. longi, cum foliis dense villosi; folia dense fasciculata linearia gracilia erecto-patentia 0*9-1 '2 cm. longa ; flores solitarii laterales sessiles, circa 6 mill, longi ; calyx obconicus villosus, segmentis linearibus falcato-patentibus tubo longioribus, corollaD subnequilongis ; vexillum suborbiculare uugui- culatum, dorso sericeum, carina majuscula glabra vix longius ; alte carina angustiores brevioresque ; ovarium oblique triangulare dense villosum, 2-ovulatum. Hab : South-eastern Eegion ; Natal : near Murchison, Alfred County, alt. about 600 meters, fl. May, J. M. Wood (No. 3023) ; also Natal, Gerrard (No. 1S52), Jide N. E. Broioi. Allied to A. eriophylla, Walp., and much resembling it, but the leaves and flowers are much smaller, the former less silky, the calyx-segments much longer proportionately to the tube, and the vexillum not oboval, but nearly orbicular. Aspalathus Iseta, n. sp. {§ Carnos^). — Fruticulus subpro- stratus dense ramosus, ramis ramulisque rigidis tomentosis, dense foliatis, ad 10 cm. longis ; folia fasciculata linearia longe pungenti- acuminata glabrescentia, 3-7 mill, longa; flores 1-2, terminales sessiles ; calycis tubus obconicus sericeo-pilosus, segmentis duobus superioribus lanceolatis inferioribus subulatis, longe pungenti-acu- minatis, tubo vix IJ-plo longioribus, totus 7 mill, longus ; vexillum ovatum subcarnosum, dorso sericeum, 1 cm. longum, alae oblongae glabrae carina aBquilongae, carina incurva obtusissima vexillo paullo brevior; ovarium lineare glabrum, margine ventrali barbata, 2- ovulatum. Hab : South-western Region ; Cape Colony : on the rocky ridges of the Skurfdebergen Mts., near the Gydouw, alt. about 1660 met., fl. Dec, coll. A. Bodkin (No. 7573 of herb. Bolus). A densely-tufted rigid little plant. The flowers are like those of some forms of A. arida, E. Mey., and the species is no doubt allied to that, but is distinct by its very taper-pointed pungent leaves and calyx-segments ; the branches also are not spinous. The prevailing colour of the flowers is bright yellow,