RICHARDIA REHMANNI.

Natal, Transvaal, Swaziland.

Aroideae. Tribe Philodendreae.

Richardia, Kunth; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 982.

Richardia Rehmanni, N.E. Br. in Gard. Chron. 1888, vol. iv. p. 570; Bot. Mag. t. 7436; Fl. Cap. vol. vii. p. 36; Wood, Natal Plants, vol. vi. t. 512.

This species was first collected by the traveller Rehmann and described by Engler in 1883 as Zantedeschia Rehmanni. Among English horticulturists the plant attracted a lot of attention, and was several times referred to in the Gardener’s Chronicle. The chief attraction to cultivators is the deep red colour of the spathes, but when grown in English gardens and also in its native climate, the colour varies considerably. Dr. Medley Wood notes that at the Natal Herbarium, Durban, the original deep red colour returned to the plants after being cultivated fifteen years. This loss of colour, however, does not appear to be constant among plants which flowered for the first time at the Division of Botany Gardens, Pretoria, from tubers which were sent by S. G. Marwick, Esq., Assistant Commissioner, Hlatikulu, Swaziland. In these the colour ranged from pale pink to deep red. After fertilization, however, and during the formation of the fruits the colour gradually fades from the spathes and they become green. The species was introduced into England by Mr. R. W. Adlam of Natal, who sent tubers to the Cambridge Botanic Gardens. The leaves vary from a uniform green to green with white markings, or green with darker green markings.

Our illustration was made from specimens cultivated at the Natal Herbarium, Durban, Natal.

Description:—Plant about 0·5 metre high. Leaves 3-5, the lower reduced to mere sheaths; petiole 15-30 cm. long, deeply channelled down the face, rounded on the back, stem-clasping at the base; blade 40-60 cm. long, 6-8 cm. broad, lanceolate, acute, with a subulate point, narrowed at the base into the petiole, entire, with undulating margins, and the mid-rib prominent beneath, dark green, sometimes with white, sometimes with green markings, shining. Peduncle shorter than the leaves, terete, glabrous, olive-green. Spathe 10-15 cm. long, with a tube 4-5 cm. long and 1·8-2 cm. in diameter, with an ovate acuminate limb, varying in colour from almost white to a deep rose or aster purple (R.C.S.) in the upper portion, greenish-yellow below, without a dark blotch round the base of the spadix. Spadix stout, with male flowers on the upper half and female flowers on the lower half. Ovary glabrous; stigma sessile. Fruit a berry. Seeds subglobose.