“ A common water plant in many of our South African rivers and vleis, and it is not surprising that such a handsome species soon found its way to cultivators in Europe. Masson, about the year 1792, appears to have first introduced it into England by forwarding specimens from the Cape to the Royal Gardens at Kew. It was not long before coloured plates appeared in the botanical publications of the day, and the first of these was published in 1801 in the Botanical Magazine and about the same time in Andrews’ Botanist’s Repository. ”

“ Although mistaken in South Africa for an allied species, this pretty bulb differs from all the other small-flowered species in the genus by its broad linear-lanceolate leaves, and the broadly elliptic or suborbicular perianth-lobes, which have suggested the specific name to me. In all the other species the perianth-lobes are oblong or elliptic-oblong. ”

“ The flowers usually appear in May, and when in flower the plants attract large numbers of brightly coloured sun-birds. The tall branched inflorescence forms the most striking feature of the plant, and when one compares it with that of Aloe lineata, which is unbranched and differs in many other important respects, it seems almost incredible that A. pretoriensis should have been mistaken by so many botanists for A. lineata as has been done.
Description:—Stem short, sometimes reaching 1 metre in height, 8-12 cm. in diameter. ”

“ It conspicuously differs from F. refracta by the very much longer slender part to the perianth tube, and although Thunberg’s plant and that collected by Zeyher have purplish-tinted flowers, I place the plant here figured as a yellow variety of it, because I find that the late P. MacOwan, in a letter preserved at Kew, gives the following particulars concerning this species, which he also considers distinct from F. refracta. He writes: “All along the coast from Cape Point towards Agulhas, notably near Mossel Bay, the other Freesia grows wild. ”

“ This species was first collected by the traveller Rehmann and described by Engler in 1883 as Zantedeschia Rehmanni. Among English horticulturists the plant attracted a lot of attention, and was several times referred to in the Gardener’s Chronicle. The chief attraction to cultivators is the deep red colour of the spathes, but when grown in English gardens and also in its native climate, the colour varies considerably. Dr. Medley Wood notes that at the Natal Herbarium, Durban, the original deep red colour returned to the plants after being cultivated fifteen years. ”

“ The plant is reputed to be extremely poisonous, and as the fruits are so attractive-looking, it makes the species also a dangerous one. In habit our plant is an evergreen shrub which lends itself to cultivation in the shrubbery ”

“ The plant is known locally as “Waaiertje.”
Description:—Stems woody. Leaves distichous, about 18 cm. long, 5-7 mm. broad, linear, tapering to an acute point, amplexi-caul, glabrous. Flowers in terminal heads. Bracts 4·5 cm. long, boat-shaped, shorter than the flowers. Perianth-tube 2·7 cm. long, brown below, becoming blue-black above; lobes 1·4 cm. long, 5·5 mm. broad, ovate-lanceolate, obtuse, densely tomentose with yellow hairs outside, glabrous within, with a tuft of yellow hairs at the apex of the inner segments and marginal hairs round the apex of the outer segments. ”

“ The species does very well on a rockery, and when it flowers is a very pleasing sight.
Description:—A plant with a very large tuber just below the ground-level and from which the branches spring. Branches more or less succulent, glabrous. Leaves appearing after the flowers, sub-sessile, 3·5-9 cm. long, 1·5-6·5 cm. broad, obovate, obtuse, narrowed to the base, dark green and very shiny above, pale green and dull beneath, with the mid-rib and lateral veins distinct above, the mid-rib alone prominent beneath. ”

“ In the locality the plant is extremely rare.
As far as we are aware this is the first record of the species since it was collected by Niven.
The common species of Mimetes (M. lyrigera, Knight) is known as the “Rooi Stompie,” and as the above species is confined to damp habitats we propose the name “Water Stompie” for it.
Description:—A small shrub about 24 cm. high. Branches pilose. Leaves more or less imbricated, 1·7-2·5 cm. long, 7-9 mm. broad, the leaves subtending the flowers broader, elliptic-lanceolate, sub-acute, villous, ciliate with long hairs on the margins. ”

“ Style 1·4 mm. long, cylindric; stigma subglobose, with a few hairs at the apex.{100}
[A. spectabilis is very easily distinguished from A. venenata by its longer petioles, usually larger size, and less elliptic shape and different venation of its leaves, the veins (at least in the dried state) being far less prominent and less ascending than they are in A. venenata, and the flowers are much larger, the corolla-tube of A. spectabilis being 14-20 mm. long, whilst those of A. venenata are only 8-12 mm. long. Dried specimens show no intermediates.—N. E. Brown.] ”

“ Mr. Stokoe has made some interesting discoveries in this region, amongst which was this new Leucadendron which he forwarded to the Division of Botany in September, 1918. It is quite distinct from any other species of Leucadendron, inasmuch as the male inflorescence is surrounded by large bracts giving it the appearance of a Protea.
Description:—Branches and branchlets glabrous. Leaves 7-8·5 cm. long, 1-2·1 cm. broad, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, bluntly mucronate, slightly narrowed at the base, glabrous, very finely glandular when seen under a lens ”

“ Cape Province, Natal.
Amaryllidaceae. Tribe Amarylleae.
Cyrtanthus, Ait.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol iii. p. 729.
Cyrtanthus obliquus, Ait.; Hort. Kew. vol. i. p. 414; Fl. Cap. vol. vi. p. 219; Wood, Natal Plants, vol. iv. t. 391.
This beautiful Cyrtanthus was described by Aiton in 1789, probably from plants collected in South Africa by Masson, who sent specimens of this species to England in 1774. The fact that it has been so frequently figured is an indication that it has appealed largely to horticulturists. ”

“ Should the publication be the means of stimulating further interest in the study and cultivation of our indigenous plants amongst the rising generation, the desire and object of its promoters will be achieved. ”

“ When in full bloom it is one of the most beautiful sights seen in the veld, and is a species which should certainly be introduced into cultivation.
Description:—Tree up to 30-40 ft. high. Branchlets pubescent. Leaves 10-27 cm. long; leaflets petiolate; petiole 5 mm. long; leaflet 2·5-7·5 cm. long, ·5-2·5 cm. broad, ovate-elliptic or lanceolate, very often sub-falcate, long-acuminate, acute, oblique at the base, villous when young, becoming pubescent with age. ”

“ This species will make a very welcome addition to the South African rockeries.
Description:—Stems 7-25 cm. long, simple, more rarely branched, thick and fleshy, 4-7-angled, with the angles compressed and toothed, each tooth tipped with an erect, slender, awl-like leaf 2-5 mm. long, withering and becoming hardened. Peduncle often solitary and terminal, sometimes there is also an axilliary one on the stem, but then only the uppermost appears to develop; 2 cm. long, bearing one flower-head,{116} terete, with 3-4 of the subulate leaves or bracts, glabrous. ”

“ Disc-florets hermaphrodite. Corolla-tube 4-5 mm. long, campanulate above, cylindrical below; lobes lanceolate with black tips. Pappus of several membranous scales about half length of the corolla-tube. Ovary villous, with a dense basal tuft of hairs. Fruit villous, crowned with the persistent pappus scales.—E. Percy Phillips.
Plate 3.—Fig. 1, portion of ray-floret; Fig. 2, pappus-scale of ray-floret; Fig. 3, disc-floret; Fig. 4, pappus-scale of disc-floret; Fig. 5, apex of style showing the stigmas; Fig. 6, fruit; Fig. 7, involucral-bracts (all enlarged) .
F.P.S.A., 1920.
{19}
{20}
4. ”

“ Ovary 2·5 mm. long, linear in outline, glabrous; style 2 mm. long, cylindric, glabrous; style-arms 4 mm. long, linear, tipped with a bristly cone. Pappus of white hairs 1·6 cm. long, distantly barbellate. Fruit not seen.
[A few years before the war a plant of this species was sent by Mr. J. Burtt Davy to Kew Gardens, where it flowered annually, but has since died.—N. E. Brown.]
Plate 28.—Fig. 1, flower (enlarged) ; Fig. 2, style-arms; Fig. 3, stamens; Fig. 4, cross-section of stem.
F.P.S.A., 1921.
{118}
{117}
29. ”

“ Radii flores acuti, albi vel carnei, subtus purpurei, quisque basi maculo nigro et aurantiaco instructi. Disci flores nigro-brunnei, antheribus luteia. Pappi squamae lanceolatae, acutae vel subobtusae. ”

“ Leaves 1-21⁄4 in. long, 3⁄4-11⁄4 in. broad, slightly imbricate, obovate or oblanceolate-spathulate, with a very obtuse blackish apex, slightly narrowing at the base, or rarely the upper leaves attenuated, distinctly 5-6 nerved, rigidly sub-coriaceous, densely ciliate when young, otherwise glabrous or more or less scantily pilose. ”