Vatica.~\ xxiv. dipterocarpe^ (olivek). 173 



short or obsolete, adnate to the torus ; lobes enlarged in fruit, equal or un- 

 equal, usually patent or if ascending not connivent over the fruit. Stamens 

 indefinite (or 15 in Asiatic species) ; anthers ovate or oblong, rarely linear, 

 with a cuspidate connective or simply acute in bud ; cells equal or the 

 outer slightly larger. Ovary 3-celled ; ovules usually 2 in each cell 5 style 

 subulate or terete; stigma entire or 3-toothed. Fruit coriaceous, inde- 

 hiscent, usually 1-seeded. Seed ovoid or subglobose ; cotyledons thick 

 i fleshy unequal, or foliaceous and contortuplicate in the following species 

 J (Kirk). — Tomentose or glabrous trees or (in V.africana) frutescent. Leaves 

 entire or repand, penniveined, stipulate. Panicles or racemes terminal or 

 axillary. 



A tropical Asiatic genus. The indefinite stamens of the African plant ally it to Shorea, 

 w which genus I should have referred it were it not for its spreading calyx-lobes in fruit. 



L V. africana, Welw. in Linn. Trans, xxvii. (ined.) t. 5. A shrub or 

 sometimes arborescent, attaining 20 ft. ; extremities tomentose-pubesceiit, 

 rarely glabrous. Leaves petiolate coriaceous oblong-elliptical obtuse or 

 sometimes retuse, with or without a mucro, narrowly rounded or subcordate 

 at the base, glabrescent above, closely rusty- or cinnamon-tomentose beneath, 

 rarely glabrous ; midrib and primary parallel lateral veins very prominent 

 beneath, 1J-4 in. long, f-lf in. broad ; petiole |-£ in. Flowers in few- 

 flowered axillary racemes shorter than the leaves or crowded or variously fas- 

 cicled towards the extremities. Bracts lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, deci- 

 duous. Sepals free nearly or quite to the base, ovate, obtuse, subequal, 

 distinctly imbricate. Petals three times as long, oblong-lanceolate, thinly 

 Pilose within. Stamens indefinite, bi-(or pluri-) seriate ; filaments filiform ; 

 anthers dorsally affixed, short, elliptical, with equal cells, pointed or subapi- 

 culate. Ovary' hairy. Fruit " 1- or 2-seeded;" globose, subapiculate ; calyx- 

 i°hes free nearly to the base, patent or ascending, oblanceolate, oblong or 

 °bovate-oblong, obtuse or subacute, longitudinally nerved and coarsely re- 

 ticulated, 1-lf i n . Jong. "Cotyledons foliaceous, equal, applied to each 

 ot «er, lobed at base, contortuplicate ; radicle superior " {Dr. Kirk). 



Var. lam. 5-7 ft. Leaves usually from 2-2* in. long. Flowers in loose, axillary, few- 

 lowered racemes; pedicels often I in. ; and . .. 



Jar. hy V oleuca. Leaves 3J-5* in. long, retuse, closely whitish-tomentose beneath. 

 «dicels a in. Both forms in— 



Lower Guinea. Huilla, Angola, Br. Welwitsch ! 



V «. glomerata. 20 ft. Leaves often larger. Flowers closely fascicled. 



South Central. Eastern slope of Batoka Hills, Dr. Kirk! 

 . .J ar - glabra. Shrub of 4 ft. Leaves glabrous ; petiole * in. Western slope of same 

 hlIls > Dr. Kirk! 



t , T ^ e Batoka specimens are not in a good state for comparison, so that, notwithstanding 

 me dl »erences indicated, it would be premature to make more than one species. 



2. LOPHIBA, Banks ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 192. 



Caly X deeply 5-partite; segments rotundate, broadly imbricate, of the fruit 

 at feast 2 enlarged, 1 three to four times longer than the other, rigid, wing- 



