Notes

Jacquin's figure of S. bufonia on t. 35 is very badly coloured and does not agree with his description, which states that the inner face of the corolla is “entirely dirty yellow, with scattered blackish spots and transverse striæ of the same colour.” Under cultivation I have found this typical dark-flowered form, in which the spots and lines are confluent, sometimes produces on the same individual much lighter coloured flowers resembling those figured by Jacquin as a variety of S. bufonia on t. 36; this lighter coloured form is also much commoner than the darker variation. S. monstrosa and S. ophiuncula are undescribed, but plants that were in cultivation under those names many years ago belong to this variety; S. monstrosa merely has fasciated stems, and S. ophiuncula is a condition with long stems, which become short when exposed to full sunlight. S. bisulca is a slight form with the outer corona-lobes not very deeply notched, but this character varies, as in one flower of Haworth's type of Orbea bisulca they are much more deeply notched. S. bifolia (Schultes, Syst. Veg. vi. 49, and G. Don, Gen. Syst. iv. 117), of which no description is given, is probably an error for S. bufonia. S. orbicularis (Andr. Bot. Rep. vii. t. 439; Poir. Encycl. Suppl. v. 233; Schultes, Syst. Veg. vi. 40; Decne in DC. Prodr. viii. 660; Schlechter in Journ. Bot. 1898, 482. Orbea orbicularis, Haw. Syn. Pl. Succ. 40; G. Don, Gen. Syst. iv. 120). This illustration which has puzzled every student of Stapelias, I believe to be a bad figure of S. bufonia, badly coloured in the same way as Jacquin's, by representing the ground colour as brown with transverse yellow lines instead of a yellow ground with purple-brown spots, and the inner corona-lobes with very short outer horns. I have never seen a flower like it and believe the corona-lobes to have been either damaged or imperfectly developed, and as Andrews states that he had only seen the plant in Loddiges' collection and Loddiges' own figure of S. orbicularis (an excellent one of the common form of var. bufonia) distinctly represents the outer horns as long as in typical bufonia, I think there is little doubt that Andrews' figure is intended for that plant. There are forms or hybrids in cultivation which have light coloured flowers as in var. planiflora, but have the shallowly basin-shaped disk of var. bufonia. S. hispida, Horn ex Rüst in Monatsschr. Kakt. vi. 37, is a slight form of var. bufonia, with the spots rather fewer and those on the annulus somewhat larger than usual, the annulus is also irregularly margined with purple-brown, leaving an irregular few-spotted light yellow ring on the rim. S. natalensis, Rüst, l.c. 37, is another form of var. bufonia or hybrid with darkly coloured flowers, from the spots being rather crowded and those on the annulus larger than usual. S. atrata, var. tigrina, Dammann ex Rüst, l.c. 38, has no resemblance in colour to S. atrata, Tod., but is a variation or hybrid of var. bufonia, with the spots showing some tendency to arrangement in longitudinal rows; annulus very light yellow with small round purple spots; outer horn of the inner corona-lobes erect. [S. bisulca (Rüst in Monatsschr. Kakt. vi. 39, not of Donn); this is a hybrid, quite distinct from S. bisulca, Donn; corolla 2 1/2 in. in diam.; lobes ovate, shortly acuminate, not ciliate, pale greenish-yellow, very thickly covered with irregular purple-brown spots, giving the appearance of being reticulated with the yellow colour, entirely purple-brown on the disk; annulus circular, dark purple-brown with a few yellow specks; outer corona-lobes oblong-linear, 3-toothed at the apex, with the middle tooth smallest, pale yellow, dotted on the teeth and down the centre with purple-brown, without a basal spot; inner corona-lobes with the outer horn erectly ascending.