Our plant was collected by Dr. I. B. Pole Evans, C.M.G., who states that it is common on rocky outcrops in the Nabib Desert at Luderitzbuch. It has been established and flowered at the Gardens of the Division of Botany, Pretoria. Specimens are preserved in the National Herbarium, Pretoria (Herb. No. 1452). DESCRIPTION:--_Stems_ woody and swollen, with blackish bark. _Leaves_ crowded at the apex of the branches; petioles 4-11 cm. long, semiterete, finely pilose with reflexed hairs; lamina 2-5 cm. long, 2-4·5 cm. broad, rounded-ovate, slightly 3-lobed, rounded above, cuneate at the base and merging into the petiole, with crinkled bluntly dentate margins and prominent veins beneath, finely pilose above and below; stipules brown, 4 mm. long, acuminate from an ovate base. _Peduncle_ 7·5 cm. long, terete, finely pilose with reflexed hairs, branching above. _Involucral bracts_ 1·2 cm. long, lanceolate, acute, pilose. _Umbel_ 6-flowered; pedicels about 1-2 cm. long. _Flowers_ faintly sweet scented. _Petals_ 1·25 cm. long, 6 mm. broad, obovate, rounded or truncate at the apex; the three lower produced into a linear claw 2 mm. long; the two upper slightly connate. _Calyx-tube_ 2 mm. long, terete, pilose; sepals all pilose; upper sepal erect, 8 mm. long, 2·5 mm. broad, ovate-lanceolate, obtuse; lower and lateral sepals reflexed, 8 mm. long, 1·5-2 mm. broad, lanceolate, obtuse. _Stamens_ 7, in three rows of 2, 3 and 2; filaments linear, 4·7 mm. long, connate at the base; anthers 1·75 mm. long, oblong; staminodes 3, shorter than the filaments. Ovary 1·5 mm. long, densely pilose above; styles united for 1·5 mm. and then separating into 6 stigmas 1·5 mm. long. * * * * * PLATE 52.--Fig. 1, plant as it appears in dry seasons; Fig. 2, plant with leaves and flowers; Fig. 3, lamina of leaf; Fig. 4, involucre at base of flowers; Fig. 5, back view of flower; Fig. 6, petals; Fig. 7, calyx with stamens; Fig. 8, filaments and staminodes; Fig. 9, gynaecium. F.P.S.A., 1922. [Illustration: _53._ K. A. Lansdell del.] PLATE 53. ANDROCYMBIUM MELANTHIOIDES. _Cape Province, Natal, Transvaal._ * * * * * LILIACEAE. Tribe ANGUILLARIEAE. * * * * * ANDROCYMBIUM, _Willd._; _Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant._ vol. iii. p. 822. * * * * * =Androcymbium melanthioides=, _Willd. in Ges. Naturf. fr. Berl. Mag._ vol. ii. p. 21; _Fl. Cap._ vol. vi. p. 517. * * * * * The genus _Androcymbium_ is represented by about eighteen species, two of which are known from the Mediterranean Region and two from Tropical Africa, the remainder of the species being confined to South Africa.