SterculiaJ] XXVI. sterculiace.e (masters). 217 



pilose ovary. Follicles 3-5, spreading, subsessile, ovate-acuminate, downy 

 on the outer surface. Seeds arillate on a villose placenta.— Triphaca afri- 

 cana, Lour. ; DC. Prod. i. 483. S. abyssinica, R. Br. PI. Jav. Rar. 227 

 (partly) ; T. Anderson in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. Suppl. 9. S. ipomaafolia, 

 Garcke in Pet. Mossamb. Bot. i. 130. 



Nile Land. Abyssinia, &?#/ 



Mozamb. Distr. Zambesi, Dr. Kirk ! Seuna, Peters. 



There is no doubt, as Dr. Anderson has pointed out, that R. Brown confused two species 

 under the head of S. abyssinica, and that Garcke's S. ipomacefolia is identical with R. 

 Brown's S. Triphaca. It seems, therefore, best to adopt the oldest name, and refer to it, in 

 part, R. Brown's S. abyssinica. S. arabica, T. Anders., the fruit of which Browu referred 

 to his S. abyssinica, has not been found in tropical Africa. 



4. S. ? cordifolia, Cav. ; Guill. et Pen. FL Seneg. i. 79. t. 15 . A 



large tree, 60-80 feet high ; the bark of which peels off like that of the Plane. 

 Branches spreading ; younger ones puberulous. Leafstalks 1-5 in. long, 

 downy. Leaves cordate, roundish, sinuous, entire or slightly lobed, coria- 

 ceous, glabrous on both surfaces or slightly stellate-pilose, especially beneath, 

 5-6 in. or more long, somewhat less in breadth. Flowers numerous, small, 

 in much-branched axillary clusters ; pedicels divaricate, downy. Calyx ur- 

 ceolate, 3-toothed, downy on the outside. Stamens 10-12, very short, placed 

 around the ovary or crowded in a globose head at the extremity of a long stalk 

 and surrounding an abortive ovary. Carpels 5, spreading, thick, acuminate, 

 tapering at the base, smooth within, 8-10-seeded. Seeds with a yellow aril, 

 exalbuminous (?). 



Upper Guinea. Senegambia, Heudelot ! Perrottel ! 



Not having examined perfect flowers of this species, I adopt the description given by 

 Guillemin and Perrottet. Their figure of the column and anthers hardly agrees with their 

 description, and seems to represent either a single ring of anthers, with superposed lobes, as 

 in Cola, or a double ring of anthers with parallel lobes. The aril is said to be edible. 

 Cavanilles' figure of the fruit (Diss. v. t. 144) belongs rather to S. tomentusa, as pointed 

 out by Guillemiu and Perrottet. Robert Brown, PI. Jav. Rar. 237, refers this plant to his 

 genus Cola, " ob antherarum loculis divaricatissimis, seininilms exalbuminosis et radicula 

 embryouis hilo proxima," etc. But Guillemin and Perrottet describe the anthers as con- 

 gested in a globose head, though their figure does not correspond with the description. 

 Their account of the seeds having an arillus, and of the embryo as having thick flat coty- 

 ledons, renders it probable that there is some confusion also as to the seeds, of which latter 

 they give no figure. The habit and structure of the flower, as described, are more nearly 

 those of Sterculia than of Cola. 



5. S. tomentosa, Guill. et Terr. FL Seneg. i. 81. t. 16. A tree 20-30 

 ft- high. Branches rugose ; younger ones downy. Leaves approximate; 

 stalked ; petioles 3-4 in. long, downy ; laminae cordate, roundish, angular 

 or somewhat 3-lobed ; lobes acuminate, the central one longest, downy 

 on both surfaces. Flowers numerous, in much-branched axillary panicles ; 

 pedicels spreading, downy, as long as or longer than the flower. Flower- 

 buds broadly ovate. Calyx \ in. long, cup-shaped, downy, 5-fid ; lobes lan- 

 ceolate, valvate in the bud, ultimately spreading. Staminal column curved, 

 slender, half the length of the calyx, dividing at the extremity into 5 short 

 branches each of which supports three 2-lobed anthers; lobes parallel, sur- 

 rounding an abortive pilose ovary, with a single curved style. Carpels 3-5, 



