DESCRIPTION:--_Corm_ 1·5 cm. in diameter, globose. _Produced leaves_ 2 or 3; the lowest up to 36 cm. long, 4-angled, appearing as a cross in transverse section, glabrous; upper leaves similar but shorter. _Inflorescence_ usually 3-flowered. _Outer spathe-valves_ 3·5 cm. long, lanceolate-oblong, acute; inner spathe-valve similar, but slightly curved and gradually narrowing upwards; lobes 3·5 cm. long, 2·8 cm. broad, ovate, bluntly acuminate, obtuse minutely apiculate. _Stamens_ shorter than the style. _Style-branches_ cuneate, papillose on the margins. PLATE 175.--Fig. 1, plant, much reduced; Fig. 2, corm, showing bulbil; Fig. 3, median longitudinal section of flower; Fig. 4, portion of leaf; Fig. 5, cross-section of leaf; Fig. 6, anther with part of filament; Fig. 7, stigmae with part of style; Fig. 8, ovary. F.P.S.A., 1925. [Illustration: 176.] PLATE 176. SARCOPHYTE SANGUINEA. _Cape Province._ BALANOPHORACEAE. Tribe SARCOPHYTEAE. SARCOPHYTE, _Sparrm._; _Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant._ vol. iii. p. 234. * * * * * =Sarcophyte sanguinea=, _Sparrm. in Vet. Acad. Handl. Stockh. 1776_, 300, t. 7; _Fl. Cap._ vol. v. sect. ii. p. 213. * * * * * The family _Balanophoraceae_, to which our plant belongs, comprises plants all of which are parasitic on the roots of trees and shrubs. There are about fifty species, spread over about fifteen genera, widely distributed in tropical and sub-tropical regions. In South Africa the family is represented by two genera and four species. _Sarcophyte sanguinea_ is usually found as a parasite on the roots of _Acacia Karroo_, but so far as we know does not follow the same distribution as its host, but is confined to the eastern portion of the Cape Province. The plant really consists of a large inflorescence arising from the ground, and the two sexes are distinct. When in flower it has a most objectionable stench, so much so that the presence of a plant is known long before it is actually seen. The accompanying plate illustrates a male plant. DESCRIPTION:--Male plant about 30 cm. high. _Root-stock_ thick, irregularly lobed, verrucose; stem short erect; leaves reduced to oblong obtuse or subacute scales up to 2 cm. long and 1·2 cm. wide. _Inflorescence_ much-branched; flowers usually in pairs on short pedicels which are connate below. _Perianth-segments_ navicular, almost patent, very thick and fleshy, subacute, 4 mm. long, 2·5 mm. wide; filaments 3 to nearly 4 mm. long, cylindrical; anthers terminal, scarcely wider than the filaments. Female plants very similar to the male, but rather shorter, flowers numerous in subglobose shortly stalked heads about 6 mm. in diameter. _Ovary_ 1-3-celled; ovule solitary, pendulous; stigma discoid, sessile; fruit a syncarpium; seed about 1 mm. long (_Flora Capensis_).