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. F.P.S.A., 1922. [Illustration: _57._ K. A. Lansdell del.] PLATE 57. DIMORPHOTHECA SPECTABILIS. _Transvaal._ * * * * * COMPOSITAE. Tribe CALENDULACEAE. DIMORPHOTHECA, _Moench._; _Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant._ vol. ii. p. 453. * * * * * =Dimorphotheca spectabilis=, _Schltr. in Journ. Bot._ vol. xxxv. p. 220 (1897). * * * * * For quite a considerable time this common and well-known _Dimorphotheca_ was placed in herbaria under the name of _Dimorphotheca Ecklonis_, and Harvey, who examined specimens of this plant collected by Burke and Zeyher on the Aapies River and Magaliesberg, also included it under _D. Ecklonis_. Dr. Schlechter first recognised that the Transvaal plant was an undescribed species, but apparently did not realise that Burke and Zeyher had collected the plant close on a hundred years ago, as he founded his description on specimens collected by Mr. E. E. Galpin, F.L.S., in 1887, on the Saddleback Mountains, Barberton. _Dimorphotheca spectabilis_ is a spring flowering plant, and is common around Pretoria during the months of September and October. It is a well-grown plant with large mauve flowers, and if introduced into cultivation would be an acquisition to any garden. The plant sets seed freely, and could easily be raised by this means. The species is poisonous, and in experiments carried out by the Division of Veterinary Research, the plant was found to cause death in sheep fed on it. Specimens are preserved in the National Herbarium, Pretoria (Herb. No. 1470).