DESCRIPTION:--An acaulescent herbaceous plant. _Bulb_ 1·6 cm. long, 1·9 cm. in diameter, covered with brown membranous tunics with numerous fibrous roots from the base. _Leaves_ 2, flat, 5-8 cm. long, 4-5 cm. broad, ovate, subacuminate, obtuse, narrowed and clasping at the base, many-nerved, with margins narrowly membranous. _Capitulum_ about 10-flowered, with a peduncle 3 cm. long, clasped by the leaf base and beneath the soil. _Outer bracts_ white, membranous, 2·7 cm. long, 1·6 cm. broad, oblong; inner bracts 2·5 cm. long, 9 mm. broad, obovate-spathulate, entire, clasping the perianth-tube. _Pedicels_ 5 mm. long, 3 mm. broad, compressed, fleshy. _The outer flowers_ 2-lipped and differently shaped from the inner. _Perianth-tube_ of outer flowers 2 cm. long, 4 mm. in diameter, somewhat compressed; lobes of lower lip 2·6 cm. long; the middle lobe 1·4 cm. broad; the 2 side lobes 1 cm. broad; all obovate-oblong, obtuse; lobes of upper lip 3 mm. long, 1 mm. broad, linear. _Perianth-lobes_ of inner flowers 3-6 mm. long, all linear or lanceolate. _Stamens_ inserted at different levels; filaments 3-6 mm. long, terete, fleshy, tapering upwards; anthers 2 mm. long, oblong. _Ovary_ 7 mm. long, 2·5 mm. in diameter, narrowly ellipsoid, glabrous; style 2·5 cm. long, terete, with 3 minute stigmas at the apex. * * * * * PLATE 71.--Fig. 1, plant viewed from above; Fig. 2, plant, side view; Fig. 3, a single flower; Fig. 4, side view of flower of outer whorl; Fig. 5, flower from middle of inflorescence; Fig. 6, the same flower viewed from above, showing the stamens and style; Fig. 7, bract. F.P.S.A., 1922. [Illustration: _72._ K A Lansdell del.] PLATE 72. STAPELIA PILLANSII, _var._ ATTENUATA. _Cape Province._ * * * * * ASCLEPIADACEAE. Tribe STAPELIEAE. STAPELIA, _Linn._; _Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant._ vol. ii. p. 784. * * * * * =Stapelia Pillansii=, _N. E. Br._, _var._ =attenuata=, _N. E. Br._ in _Fl. Cap._ vol. iv. sect. i. p. 958. * * * * * This interesting _Stapelia_ was first discovered by Mr. N. S. Pillans, of Cape Town, at Witte Poort in the Laingsburg Division, and described by Mr. N. E. Brown, to whom Mr. Pillans sent most of his collections of this group. Our plant is one of the larger-flowered species of the genus, resembling in this respect _S. gigantea_ and _S. nobilis_, but differing in colour from both these species. The flowers have a distinct carrion-like odour, although this is not so strong as in many other species of the genus. When in bud the petals form an acuminate beak recurved at the apex. Under cultivation in the greenhouse the stems turn a dark reddish-brown colour. Our specimen was collected by Dr. I. B. Pole Evans at Laingsburg, and flowered at the Division of Botany, Pretoria, in October, 1921. (National Herbarium, Pretoria, Herb. No. 1492.)