LILIACEAE. Tribe ALLIEAE. DAUBENYA, _Lindl._; _Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant._ vol. iii. p. 807. * * * * * =Daubenya aurea=, Lindl., _var._ =coccinea=, _Marloth_ comb. nov. _Daubenya coccinea, Harv. Fl. Cap._ vol. vi. p. 417. * * * * * This rare and interesting plant was found by Dr. R. Marloth in the Calvinia District. An examination of fresh specimens has enabled us to reduce the three species described in the “Flora Capensis” to a single species, and the genus _Daubenya_ therefore becomes one of South Africa’s monotypic genera. Our conclusions have been confirmed by independent observations made by Dr. Marloth, and we give below the notes he forwarded to the Division of Botany. “The colour of the flower is the most brilliant scarlet known in the Flora of South Africa, and especially dazzling when seen in full sunlight. This effect is due to the combination of two pigments in the subepidermal tissues of the flower, viz. a granular yellow pigment distributed through all the cells, and a bright red solution present in most of the cells of the subepidermal layer, but absent in others. This peculiarity of structure also explains the occurrence of plants with yellow flowers, for if through some cause or other (as a sport), the red pigment is not produced, the flower is plain yellow, just as in such a case the flower of the red _Watsonia_ (_W. rosa_) becomes pure white (Arderne’s Watsonia). It so happened that the yellow form was first introduced into England and described by Lindley as _Daubenya aurea_ (1835), hence this name has to be retained for the species, although the flower is generally scarlet, and the yellow form has only arisen as a sport. There is, however, no structural difference between _D. aurea_ Lindl., _D. coccinea_ Harv., and _D. fulva_ Lindl.” The length of the floral segments and of the peduncle, given as distinguishing characters by Lindley, is very variable in the specimens seen by us (over one hundred); some of them are scarlet, others yellow, and some dull orange. The scent of the flowers is unpleasant, somewhat recalling that of the flowers of _Rhus_. The home of this remarkable plant was unknown to botanists until re-discovered in 1920. It grows in heavy red clay soil on the farm Fransplaas, about 40 miles north of Sutherland, and flowers in September. The genus was named by Dr. Lindley in honour of Dr. Charles Daubeny, Professor of Botany at Oxford, “whose interesting researches in vegetable Chemistry have materially conduced to improve our knowledge of the physiology of plants.” Specimens are preserved in the National Herbarium, Pretoria (Herb. No. 1458).