DESCRIPTION:--_Corm_ 3 cm. in diameter, globose, covered with fibrous tunics. _Plant_ 1 to 1·5 m. high. _Leaves_ 10 to 12 to a plant, equitant, up to 70 cm. long, 2·5 to 3 cm. broad, ensiform, acuminate, acute, with a prominent midrib above and beneath, and with the lateral veins distinct, with a cartilaginous margin which is sometimes very minutely denticulate, glabrous. _Spike_ ·3 to almost 1 m. long, up to 15-flowered. _Outer spathe_ 8 cm. long, 2·1 cm. broad, ovate, acuminate, acute, closely nerved, glabrous; inner spathe 6 cm. long, 1·8 cm. broad, ovate, acute, 2-keeled, glabrous (in the flowering stage spathes are smaller). _Perianth-tube_ 4 cm. long, 1 cm. in diameter above, yellow on the posterior side, red on anterior side. _Upper lobe_ 5·5 cm. long, 3·2 cm. broad, obovate, narrowed to the base, shortly cuspidate; side lobes 4·5 cm. long, 3·5 cm. broad, ovate, obtuse; lower lateral lobes 3 cm. long, 1·5 cm. broad, elliptic, narrowed to the base, acuminate, acute; lowest petal 3·5 cm. long, 1·8 cm. broad, elliptic narrowed to the base, cuspidate at the apex. _Anthers_ 1·6 cm. long, linear, sagittate at the base. _Style_ 7 cm. long, terete, glabrous; lobes 6 cm. long, spatulate, papillose on the margins. _Young fruit_ 4·5 cm. long, 3-angled. _Seeds_ winged. (National Herb. Pretoria, No. 2711.) PLATE 116.--Fig. 1, plant much reduced; 2, longitudinal section of flower; 3, outer bract; 4, inner bract; 5, anther with part of filament; 6, stigmas with part of style; 7, young fruit; 8, seed. F.P.S.A., 1923. [Illustration: _117._ S. Gower del.] PLATE 117. VENIDIUM MACROCEPHALUM. _S.W. Africa._ COMPOSITAE. Tribe ARCTOTIDEAE. VENIDIUM, _Less._; _Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant._ vol. ii. p. 459. =Venidium macrocephalum=, _DC. Prodr._ vol. vi. p. 494; _Fl. Cap._ vol. iii. p. 463; _Bot. Mag._ t. 8845. Our illustration was made from plants raised at the Division of Botany, Pretoria, from seed collected by Dr. J. M. Troup at Aus in South-west Africa. The plant flowers freely and makes a splendid display, and as a garden plant for supplying cut flowers it is well worth cultivation. Seed was sent by the Chief of the Division of Botany to Kew in 1918, and the plants raised were figured in the _Botanical Magazine_ (t. 8845). Mr. J. Hutchinson, who drew up the description for the _Botanical Magazine_, gives as his reason for retaining this genus separate from _Arctotis_ (see Plate 3) that the latter has a well-developed double pappus, whereas in _Venidium_ the pappus is either absent or very rudimentary. The species of _Venidium_, in common with many species of _Gazania_, _Arctotis_ and _Dimorphotheca_, are collectively known as “Gous Bloom.”