Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 34 (1896).djvu/41

 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FLORA OF SOUTH AFRICA. 25 Clydesdale, 900 met., fl. March, Tyson (No. 1267 of Herb. Aust.-Afr., MacOwan d Bolus). Var. y. LAXA ; ramis longioribus laxioribusque, ad 58 cm. longis, paucifoliatis, internodiis longioribus, foliis majoribus ad 2 cm. longis, racemis foliis 3-5-plo longioribus. Natal, Inanda, alt. 650 met., fl. Febr., Wood (Nos. 974 & 781 ; also No. 1140 of Herb. Austr.-Afr., MacOwan & Bolus). A very variable species, allied to I. ovina, Harv., but with much smaller leaves and longer racemes, proportionately to the leaves. For the most part the common petiole is produced beyond the last pair of leaflets, except in var. a ; but this character, which Harvey relied upon to separate his sections Pimiata and ProductcB, cannot be absolutely trusted in this genus. I have not unfrequently found them both with petiolate and sessile terminal leaflets on the same plant. The var. a looks extremely difi'erent from var. y, but the former occurs at a high elevation, and /3 seems to connect them. A common character is the somewhat long and often hair-like pedicel. The species may be placed next to /. seticulosa, Harv. Carpacoce heteromorpha, Bolus. — Fruticulus humilis ro- bustus decumbens ramosus ; rami vaiidi adscendentes pubescentes, dense foliosi, ramulis brevibus vestiti ; folia opposita imbricata linearia acuminata connata, basin versus ciliata, patenti-recurva, 1-2 cm. longa, stipulis nuUis vel cum vaginis foliorum connatis ; flores axillares et terminales sessiles ebracteolati, inter folia fere absconditi ; calycis lobi 4, erecti subaequales lineares ciliati, 6-7 mill, longi, tubum corollas superantes ; corollae lobi 6-7, lanceolati patentes, tubo 4-5 mill, longo subaequilongi, apice calloso-uncinati ; stamina 6-7, exserta ; ovarium turbinatum, stylo villoso longe exserto, corollam superante ; fructus turbinatus, lobis calycis coro- natus, semine pyriformi, minute muricato, nigro. — Merciera hetero- morpha, Buck, in Eckl. & Zeyh. Emm. p. 387 (1837). Hab : South-western Eegion ; Cape Colony : amongst rocks on the Babylon's Tower Mt., fl. Aug., Eckl. S Zeyh. (No. 2421); sandy hills near EUm, alt. 100 met., fl. July, Bolus (No. 6972). Different in habit from the other species of this genus, and somewhat resembling Merciera brevlfolla, A. DC. Buek, in describing it, noted it as "a singular plant, most likely constituting a distinct genus." Harvey distinguished it as a Rubiacea, but, probably from want of good specimens, proceeded no further. The old specific name fits its present position ; for it differs from its congeners by its 4 nearly equal calyx-lobes, and by its 6-7-lobed corolla. The peculiar hook with which the corolla-lobes are tipped is entirely on the upper, not on the under side, as Bentham describes it in the Gen. flant. ii. p. 141.