DESCRIPTION:--_Leaves_ 34 cm. long, 8 cm. broad at the base, lanceolate, acuminate, ending in a short spine, concave on the upper surface, convex on the lower, with spines along the margins and 1 to 3 spines on the back near the apex; spines about ·2 mm. long and 1·5 cm. apart. _Inflorescence_ forked; peduncle bearing the inflorescence about 20 cm. long, 1·2 cm. in diameter, terete, bearing ovate acuminate membranous bracts; flowers in a dense spike about 21 cm. long, 6 cm. in diameter, all reflexed, at first red, later becoming greenish-white, with dark green bands. _Floral bracts_ membranous, reflexed, 1·5 cm. long, 5 mm. broad at the base, ovate, cuspidate, 5-nerved. _Outer perianth-segments_ 2·5 cm. long, 6 mm. broad, lanceolate, obtuse, distinctly 3-nerved (faintly 5-nerved); inner segments 2·3 cm. long, 9 mm. broad, somewhat keeled, 3-nerved. _Filaments_ 2·5 cm. long, broadest in the middle and tapering to the base and apex, dark purple above, greenish-white below; anthers 3 mm. long with dark yellow pollen. _Ovary_ 5 mm. long, cylindric; style 2 cm. long, cylindric; stigma minute. * * * * * PLATE 155.--Fig. 1, median longitudinal section of flower; Fig. 2, bud; Fig. 3, perianth-segments; Fig. 4, stamen. F.P.S.A., 1924. [Illustration: _156._] PLATE 156. CRASSULA PORTULACEA. _Cape Province._ * * * * * CRASSULACEAE. CRASSULA, _Linn._; _Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant._ vol. i. p. 657. * * * * * =Crassula portulacea=, _Lam. Dict._ ii. p. 172; _Fl. Cap._ vol. ii. p. 337. * * * * * This species of _Crassula_ is somewhat related to _C. falcata_, figured on Plate 12, but differs in its more shrubby habit. It belongs to the section _Latifoliae_ of the genus, which contains three species, all succulent branching shrubs, with broad flat fleshy leaves. _Crassula portulacea_ is a large much-branched shrub up to 10 to 12 ft. high, and is found in the south-eastern parts of the Cape Province, in the coastal districts from Montagu to Port Elizabeth. Our plate was prepared from plants flowering in the rockeries at the Division of Botany, Pretoria. Here it forms a small, more or less compact shrub about 2 ft. high, and flowers very profusely. The flowers appear during the winter months, and when in full bloom the plant makes a very effective show on the rockery.