Plate 189.
Reading edition
CRASSULA Laticephala. Cape Province. Crassulaceae. Crassula, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. i. p. 657.
Crassula laticephala, Schonl. in Rec. Albany Mus. vol. ii. p. 457.
The dwarf Crassula figured on the accompanying Plate was described by Dr. S. Schonland in 1913 from a specimen collected in the Riversdale District by Mr. J. E. A. Volschenk. The species is closely allied to C. congesta, N.E.Br., which we figured on Plate 115, and Dr. Schonland suggests that when more material is available it might be considered a variety of the latter species.
Crassula laticephala is confined, so far as we know, to the Riversdale District, and there only found in the Klein Karroo. We are indebted to Dr. J. Muir of Riversdale for the specimen figured.
Description:—A dwarf succulent 4·5 cm. high. Leaves fleshy, 4-ranked, strongly reflexed, 3 cm. long, 1·2 cm. broad at the base, ovate, acuminate, obtuse, flat above with a distinct keel, somewhat convex beneath, scurfy. Flowers in heads 2·5 to 3 cm. in diameter surrounded by floral-leaves. Floral-leaves 1·2 cm. long, 1·5 cm. broad at the base, ovate, suddenly contracted into a fleshy cylindric appendage. Receptacle convex. Floral-bracts 4·5 mm. long, linear, ciliated. Caylx-lobes 3 mm. long, linear, cucullate at the apex, ciliate. Petals 5·5 mm. long, linear, slightly broadened below, concave. Filaments 1 mm. long, slender; anthers 1·25 mm. long, oblong. Carpels 2 mm. long. Hypogynous scales transversely oblong, on distinct stalks. (National Herb., Pretoria, No. 2936.)
Plate 189.—Fig. 1, flower-bud; Fig. 2, petal with 2 stamens; Fig. 3, carpels; Fig. 4, longitudinal section of head showing convex receptacle; Fig. 5, cross-section through leaf; Fig. 6, leaf.
F.P.S.A., 1925.
