346 xxxix. OLACiNEiE (oliver). [tleisttria. 



with a minute embryo.— Glabrous shrubs or trees. Leaves alternate, entire, 

 coriaceous. Flowers small, sessile or pedicellate in the axils. 



A tropical American genus with the following exception. The generic description is from 

 the ' Genera Plautarum ;' our African specimens being insufficient for independent exami- 

 nation. 



1. H. parvifolia, Smith; DC. Prod. i. 533. Perfectly glabrous. 

 Leaves oblong-elliptical, acuminate, acumen usually rather obtuse, slightly 

 rounded or cuneate at base, 3^-5 in. long, 1^-2 in. broad ; petiole \-\ HI. 

 Flowers (not examined) shortly pedicellate, in axillary fascicles. Fruit-calyx 

 5-partite, about 1— 1-J in. in diatn. ; lobes ovate, spreading or ascending, 

 rather acute, after the fall of the fruit with the sinuses reflexed. — Acrolubus 

 Schoenleinii and A. parvifolius, Klotzsch in Schoenl. Nachl. 236-7. t. 3. 



Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, Afzelius ! Whitfield! (? Fernando Po and Grand 

 Bassa, T. Vogel >) Coast of Guinea, Young ! 



Mann collected on the Kongni river an Olacinea which may probably belong to the same 

 species. The leaves are from 5-7 in. long by 14-3 in. broad. Flowers in axillary fascicles 

 snorter than the petiole, the pedicels equalling or exceeding the flower. Calyx shortly cn- 

 puliform, 5-toothed. Petals coherent in their lower half. Stamens 10 ; filaments opposite 

 to the petals, which are shortly pilose abeve within, shorter than the alternating ones, ad- 

 nate below. Anthers small, rotundate. Ovary depressed above with a short thick style, 

 3-celled, with 1 ovule in each cell. 



2. XIMENIA, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 316. 



Calyx small, 4-5-toothed or -lobed, unchanged in fruit. Petals 4-5, val- 

 vate in aestivation, narrow-oblong, bearded within. Stamens 8-10 ; fila- 

 ments filiform, free ; anthers linear, erect, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary 

 more or less completely 3-4-celled ; style continuous ; stigma obtuse ; ovules 

 3 or 4, narrow-linear, pendulous, one in each division. Fruit a drupe. Seed 

 albuminous with a minute apical embryo. — Shrubs or trees, glabrous or to- 

 mentOse, often armed with short axillary spines. Leaves alternate, entire. 

 Flowers in axillary fascicles or cymose racemes, rarely solitary. 



A small genus with one species apparently peculiar to the Cape, and a second, widely 

 diffused through tropical countries, occurring in numerous localities in intertropical Africa. 



1. X. americana, Linn. ; DC. Prod. i. 533. A glabrous shrub or 

 tree, with or without short, acute, axillary spines. Leaves coriaceous, oval- 

 oblong or occasionally elliptical, obtuse, often slightly emarginate, base 

 usually cuneate ; l±-3 in. long, |-1| i„. broad ; petiole 2-3 lines. Flowers 

 whitish, \-\ in. long, in few-flowered, shortly pedunculate, racemose or um- 

 bellate cymes, much shorter than the leaves ; pedicels ebractcate, shorter tban 

 or equalling the flowers. Calyx with 4 short deltoid lobes. Petals densely 

 bearded within. Ovary 4-3-celled nearly to the apex of the cavity. Fruit 

 ellipsoidal, 1-1 \ in. long (edible, scarlet, Dr. Kirk).—X. laurina, DeKle «j 

 Ann. Sc. Nat. Se'r. 2. xx. 88; Ferret and Galinier, Vov. iii. 100. {Vide 

 Bentham, Fl. Austral, i. 391.) 



Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, Hutton ! Senegambia, Heudelol ! Niger, Barter'. 



