Entry From
Flora Capensis, Vol 4, page 518, (1909) Author: By N. E. BROWN.
Names
ORTHANTHERA jasminiflora N. E. Br. ex Schinz [family ASCLEPIADACEAE], in Verhandl. Bot. Ver. Brandenb. xxx. 265;—K. Schum. in Engl. and Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. ii. 266 and 264, fig. 77, D-E, inaccurate as to anther-tips; N. E. Br. in Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. iv. i. 434.
Barrowia jasminiflora Decne [family ASCLEPIADACEAE], in DC. Prodr. viii. 630; Delessert, Ic. v. 37, t. 88 (inaccurate as to fig. 1); Harv. Gen. S. Afr. Pl. ed. 2, 240; Marloth in Engl. Jahrb. x. 244; Schlechter in Journ. Bot. 1897, 291.
Pergularia? jasminiflora Burch. ex Decne [family ], in DC. Prodr. viii. 630.
Information
stems prostrate, 1 1/2–15 ft. long, branching, pubescent or somewhat scabrous; leaves spreading, scabrous; petiole 1–5 lin. long; blade 2/3–2 1/2 in. long, 1/8–1 in. broad, linear, lanceolate, oblong, ovate to nearly circular, acute or obtuse and apiculate at the apex, rounded, truncate, cordate or subhastate at the base, rather thick and rigid, often wavy or crisped on the margins; umbels pedunculate, 2–13-flowered; peduncle 1/3–1 1/2 in. long, scabrous or pubescent; bracts 1–2 1/2 lin. long, 1/4– 2/3 lin. broad, subulate or ovate-lanceolate, acute; pedicels 2–7 lin. long, scabrous or pubescent; sepals 1 1/2–3 lin. long, 2/3–1 lin. broad, lanceolate, acute or acuminate, pubescent; corolla pubescent all over the outside and within the upper part of the tube, cream-coloured; tube usually 1/2– 3/4 in. long, rarely less, globose-pentagonal (i.e. with 5 inflations between the sepals) at the base, cylindric and 1 lin. in diam. above; lobes usually 4 1/2–6 lin. long, rarely less, 1 1/4 lin. broad, more or less spreading, linear-lanceolate, acute, recurved along the margins, glabrous on the inner face; corona-lobes 1/2– 2/3 lin. long, broadlyΛ-shaped, adnate to the staminal column, with broad free reflexed margins; staminal column 1 1/2 lin. long; anthers connivent-erect over and about twice as long as the conical acute style-apex, oblong, with a subulate or deltoid-lanceolate glabrous appendage 1/2 as long as the cells; follicles 4 in. long, 1/2 in. thick, fusiform, tapering into a long beak. null
Distribution
CENTRAL REGION Hopetown Div.; near Hopetown, Shaw! Muskett, 120! and in Herb. Bolus, 2565!KALAHARI REGION Griqualand West; near Kimberley, Marloth, 756! on plains near the Vaal River, Bowker, 20! Bechuanaland; at Patani, near the Kuruman River, Burchell, 2416! near Kuruman, Burchell, 2422! 2427! near the sources of the Kuruman River, Burchell, 2505! Transvaal; Magalies Berg, 6000–7000 ft., Zeyher, 1154! Burke, 63! Crocodile River, Burke, 129! Maquasi Mountain, Nelson, 47!
Notes
The flowers are said to be strongly scented. A form with a corolla-tube 3 1/2–4 lin. long and lobes 2 1/2–3 lin. long, from Tropical Africa, has been described as O. browniana, Schinz in Verhandl. Bot. Ver. Brandenb. xxx. 264; this may also be found to occur in South Africa. I believe it to be a somewhat starved condition of the species.