262 MR. W. p. HIEBN ON THE PECrLIAUlTlES 



Coffee * is indigenous, as well as cultivated, in Tropical Africa ; 

 Coffea arabica is native in Abyssinia, and, according to Welwitsch, 

 in Angola. Colonel Grant (Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. xxix. p. 87) 

 states that near the Victoria Nyanza lake at Witchroo it grows 

 wild and certainly never introduced; he adds that the inhabitants 

 do not use the berry in decoction, but chew the undeveloped 

 beans to soothe and allay hunger and thirst : he saw it in flower 

 and fruit ; but as specimens do not exist in his collection, I think 

 that some little doubt must remain as to the scientific determina- 

 tidn of the plant. Other species produce coffee, as C liherica 

 (Liberian coffee), G. stenqpJi^Ua (the highland coffee of Sierra 

 Leone), C. racemosa^ and others ; also Feretia apodantJiera in 

 Abyssinia, a species of Tricalysia in Angola, and Sandia genipce- 

 flora (the wild coffee of Fernando Po) produce fruits which can be 

 used as substitutes for coffee, 



New Species of Aeeican Eubiaceje. 



The two following species, of which I now add technical cha- 

 racters, are recent additions of material to the Eubiacese of Tro- 

 pical Africa. 



Pentas pabtifolia, Siern^ sp. n. Herba suffruticosa puberula 

 ramis sulcato-striatis, foliis lineari-ovalibus vel lanceolatis oppositis 

 vel (ramulis abbreviatis lateralibus efformatis) fasciculato-approx- 

 imatis,apice vel obtusis vel subacutis vel mucronulatis, basi in petio- 

 him brevem attenuatis, |-|-pollicaribus, subtus subpallidioribus, 

 margine anguste revolutis, venis lateralibus utrinsecus 3-4 incon- 

 spicuis, stipulis e basi brevi truncata 3 2-setoso-cuspidatis, flori- 

 bus pentameris |-pollicaribus subsessilibus in densas pedunculatas 

 vel subsessiles terminales cymas aggregatis, calycis longo lobo 

 ovali-oblongo foliaceo ^^-poUicari, parvis lobis subulatis, corollse 

 tubo apice subinfundibulari gracili faucibus barbatis, antheris in- 

 clusis, stylo exserto gracili apice bilobo, fructibus ^-poUicaribus. 



Habitat in insula "Mombassa" dicta ad AfricsB bram Zangue- 

 barlcam; specimina a cl. J. M. Hildebrandt, no. 1994, mense 

 Martio, anni 1876, lecta et in herbario Musei Britannici a me visa. 

 {Tide Tab. YII.) 



This differs from all previously known species o^ Fentashy the 

 narrow shape and small size of the leaves. 



African 



linn. " Trans 



