Compilation
Raphionacme divaricata

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Name

Identification
Raphionacme divaricata Harv. [family APOCYNACEAE ]
Related name
  • Raphionacme divaricata

Flora

Entry for RAPHIONACME divaricata Harv. [family ASCLEPIADACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Capensis
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora Capensis, Vol 4, page 518, (1909) Author: By N. E. BROWN.
Names
RAPHIONACME divaricata Harv. [family ASCLEPIADACEAE], in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. i. 1842, 23;—Walp. Rep. vi. 480; Schlechter in Engl. Jahrb. xviii., Beibl. 45, 2, and in Journ. Bot. 1896, 315; Rand in Journ. Bot. 1903, 198.
RAPHIONACME pubescens Hochst. [family ASCLEPIADACEAE], in Flora, 1844, 827; Walp. Rep. vi. 480.
RAPHIONACME obovata Turcz. [family ASCLEPIADACEAE], in Bull. Soc. Mosc. 1848, pt. 1, 250; Walp. Ann. iii. 45; Schlechter in Engl. Jahrb. xx., Beibl. 51, 12.
Apoxyanthera pubescens Hochst. [family ASCLEPIADACEAE], in Flora, 1843, 78.
Brachystelma? hirsutum E. Meyer [family ], Comm. Pl. Afr. Austr. 197; Dietr. Synop. Pl. ii. 888; Decne in DC. Prodr. viii. 647.
Information
a dwarf herb 2 1/2–8 in. high, much branched, pubescent with short spreading hairs on the stems, under surface of the leaves, peduncle, pedicels, calyx and outside of the corolla; leaves spreading or ascending; petiole 1/2–3 lin. long; blade 1/2–1 1/4 in. long, 1/4–1 in. broad, elliptic, orbicular or broadly obovate, acute or obtuse and apiculate, rounded or cuneately narrowed at the base; cymes sublateral at the nodes, or central in the forks of the stem, 5- to many-flowered; subsessile or on peduncles up to 1 in. long; bracts 2/3–1 1/2 lin. long, subulate, acute; pedicels 3/4–6 lin. long; sepals 1–2 lin. long, 1/3– 1/2 lin. broad, lanceolate-subulate, acute; corolla very variable in size, purple; tube 1–1 2/3 lin. long, campanulate; lobes 1 1/2–4 lin. long, 3/4–1 1/2 lin. broad, oblong, obtuse, spreading; corona-lobes exceedingly variable in size and form, varying even in the same flower, connivent over the staminal column, white or purple-tinted, 2/3–2 lin. long, 1/3–1 lin. broad, oblong-lanceolate, oblong-obovate, oblong-subspathulate, or lanceolate, gradually or abruptly contracted into a short or long, simple or bifid filiform point, or simply bifid to about 1/3 the way down, entire, or the broad terminal part more or less denticulate on each side of the cusp, or distinctly trifid, or the whole apex divided into an irregular fringe of teeth and filiform processes; anthers oblong, or slightly broader at the base, acute; pollen-carriers about 1/2 lin. long, constricted at the middle, the small elliptic blade being no broader than the ovate or oblong stalk; follicles solitary, 1–2 1/2 in. long, 3 1/2–5 lin. thick, narrowly lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, tapering to an acute point, smooth, puberulous; seeds about 1/3 in. long, oblong, obtuse, flattened with a very prominent keel on one face, glabrous. null
Distribution
COAST REGION Alexandria Div.; Quagga Flats, Bowie! Albany Div.; Broekhuisons Poort, and in sandy rocky places near Grahamstown, 2000 ft., MacOwan, 707! Hutton! Miss Daly, 57! Bathurst Div.; between Kasuga River and Port Alfred, Burchell, 3968! Komgha Div.; grassy hills near Komgha, 1900 ft., Flanagan, 394 ex Schlechter; Queenstown Div.; Queenstown Flats, Mrs. Barber, 89! near the Zwart Kei River, Cooper, 319! British Kaffraria, Cooper, 2708!EASTERN REGION Transkei; near Kentani, Miss Alice Pegler, 876! Tembuland; near Bazeia, Baur, 382 bis partly! Griqualand East, near Kokstad, Tyson! Natal; Weenen County, 3000–5000 ft., Sutherland! hills near Pieter Maritzburg, Krauss, 106b ex Hochstetter; Inanda, Wood, 368! 527! Port Natal, Miss Owen! Dargle Farm, Mrs. Fannin, 38! Var. β: Transkei; Kreilis Country, Bowker! Tsomo, Bowker, 775! and without precise locality, Hallack! Tembuland; on hill-sides, &c., near Bazeia, Baur, 382! 382 bis partly! Griqualand East; mountain slopes around Kokstad, Tyson, 1851! Natal; various localities, 500–3000 ft., Sutherland! Sanderson, 84! Gerrard, 1808! Wilms (glabrous and pubescent), 2010!KALAHARI REGION Orange River Colony; Harrismith, Sankey, 19! Bethlehem, Richardson! Transvaal; Magalies Berg, Burke! Zeyher! Pilgrims Rest, Greenstock! Matebe Valley, Holub! Christiana on the Vaal River, Nelson, 202! Zuikerbosch Rand (and also var. β), Schlechter, 3499! Var. β: Transvaal; various localities, Burke! Zeyher! Wilms, 962a! Bolus, 8309! MacLea in Herb. Bolus, 8310! Conrath, 977! Schlechter, 6385! Olive Nation, 232! 274! Leendertz, 406! Burtt Davy, 731! 752! 1060! 1229! 1529! 2314! Rand, 861! 1230! Rogers, 240! 300! 801!SOUTH AFRICA without locality, Ecklon, 64 (ex Turczaninow) Pearson! the type and var. β, Zeyher, 1140!
Notes
This is the most widely distributed of the South African species, and is very variable. Sometimes it is nearly leafless at the time of flowering, and some specimens (Cooper, 319, and Mrs. Barber, 89) in this state are reduced, probably from starvation, to a small cushion-like mass of flowers about 1–1 1/4 high. The corona-lobes are exceedingly variable, the same flower often having 2 or more variations. E. Meyer has stated that the flowers of Brachystelma hirsutum are unknown, but I find some withered flowers on his type, which upon dissection prove it to belong to this species. Mr. Burtt Davy informs me that the tuber attains a diameter of 15 inches.

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