PLATE 55.--Fig. 1, plant showing characteristic habit; Fig. 2, transverse section of leaf; Fig. 3, flower; Fig. 4, bract; Fig. 5, stamen; Fig. 6, young fruit.
POLYXENA, _Kunth._; _Benth. et Hook. Gen. Plant._ vol. iii. p. 807.
=Polyxena haemanthoides=, _Baker in Hook. Ic._ t. 1727; _Fl. Cap._ vol. vi. p. 420.
This rare species was recently collected by Dr. Marloth in the Calvinia Division, and to our knowledge has not been collected since the late Dr. Bolus discovered it on the Nieuwveld Mountains near Fraserburg over thirty years ago. _Polyxena_ is a small endemic genus of about a dozen species, the majority of which are very little known, as most of them have not been collected since they were first found by the early Cape botanical collectors. Baker, who described and figured this species in Hooker’s _Icones_, remarks, “The affinity of this interesting novelty is evidently close with _Massonia rugulosa_ of Lichtenstein and _M. marginata_ of Willdenow, of neither of which we possess specimens in the Kew Herbarium.” Both of them fall under the genus _Polyxena_, as defined in the _Genera Plantarum_. Specimens preserved in the National Herbarium, Pretoria (Herb. No. 1448).
DESCRIPTION:--_Bulb_ about 3-4 cm. in diameter, ovoid. _Leaves_ two, lying flat on the ground, 7 cm. long, 2·5-3 cm. broad, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acute, narrowing at the base, glabrous, about 10-nerved, with scabrous margins. _Inflorescence_ a contracted raceme, about 12-flowered. _Bracts_ white, 5 mm. long, ovate, acuminate. _Flowers_ sessile; perianth-tube 1·3 cm. long, 3·5 mm. in diameter, slightly compressed; lobes in 2 rows, 9 mm. long, 3 mm. broad, lanceolate-oblong, obtuse, glandular at the apex. _Stamens_ in a single row; filaments united into a tube at the base, 1·5 cm. long; anthers 3 mm. long, linear, versatile. _Ovary_ 6 mm. long, oblong in outline; style 1·5 cm. long, terete; stigma simple.
PLATE 56.--Fig. 1, leaf; Fig. 2, inflorescence showing coma; Fig. 3, flower; Fig. 4, flower in longitudinal section; Fig. 5, upper portion of perianth showing stamens and style; Fig. 6, apex of perianth lobe.
DIMORPHOTHECA, _Moench._; _Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant._ vol. ii. p. 453.
=Dimorphotheca spectabilis=, _Schltr. in Journ. Bot._ vol. xxxv. p. 220 (1897).