Rauwolfia. | LXXXIV. APOCYNACE# (STAPF). Ta? 
18. R. obscura, X. Schum. in Engl. & Prantl, Phanzenfam. iv. ii. 
154. Quite glabrous. Leaves petioled, oblong-lanceolate, subacumi- 
nate (?), acute at the base, about 4 in. long, 1} in. broad, membranous, 
drying blackish above, coftee-brown below, margins wavy ; secondary 
nerves about 12 on each side; veins quite obscure. Cymes few-flowered, 
crowded on the ends of the rays of an umbel (?) ; flowers very shortly 
pedicelled. Calyx slightly over } lin. long, divided almost to the base ; 
segments ovate, subacuminate. Corolla drying black ; tube 14 lin. long, 
villous at the mouth ; lobes broad-ovate, obtuse, } lin. long. Carpels free 
to the base in flower.—Schlechter, Westafr. Kautschuk-Exped. 307. 
South Central. Congo Free State: Mukenge, Pogge, 1080! Leopoldville, 
in shrubberies, Schlechter, 22534. 
Evidently a distinct species. 1 have seen only small fragments of an inflorescence 
and a mutilated leaf, and as there is practically no description in Engler & Prantl, 
le., I have not been able to ascertain its affinity. 
13. ALLAMANDA, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. ii. 690. 
Calyx rather large, eglandular within; sepals 5, lanceolate, more or 
less unequal. Corolla funnel-shaped; tube slender and cylindric to 
about the middle, then much widened into a campanulate or funnel- 
shaped throat with fimbriate scales or tufts of hairs at its base; lobes 
broad, contorted, overlapping to the left. Stamens inserted at the very 
base of the throat, conniving into a cone; filaments very short, decurrent 
into a thin densely hairy ridge which projects much towards ‘the centre 
of the tube; anthers free from the stigma, sagittate-lanceolate, acuimi- 
nate or aristulate; anther-cells polliniferous and dehiscing all along 
except at the hard solid basal points. Disc annular, fleshy, entire or 
obscurely lobed. Ovary syncarpous, 1-celled; style filiform; stigma 
capitate, with 5 dense patches of delicate hairs matted together by their 
viscous secretion, a deflexed, rigid, 10-toothed frill (always?) and a 
2-lobed short apiculus; placentas 2, parietal; ovules numerous, 2—5- 
seriate. Fruit capsular, ovate or elliptic, flattened, echinate, dehiscing 
along the sutures; valves almost woody. Seeds numerous, imbricate, 
broad, flat, margins membranous or winged; endosperm fleshy ; cotyledons 
large, subfoliaceous ; radicle short.—Trees or shrubs, frequently climb- 
ing. Leaves opposite or whorled, or the upper aliernate; axillary 
Stipules 0; axillary glands subulate, distinct, often very numerous. 
Flowers large, showy, in racemiform or panicled cymes. 
Species 12, in tropical South America; one frequently cultivated and occasionally 
naturalised in the tropics of the Old World. 
1. A. cathartica, Linn. Mant. 214. A scantily branched shrub, 
with pubescent or glabrate spreading branches. Leaves obovate- 
lanceolate, acutely acuminate, attenuate towards the base, 3-9 in. long, 
1-13 in. broad, glossy above, glabrous or hairy along the midrib and 
Sometimes also ou the side-nerves below; secondary nerves about 15 on 
each side, very slender, spreading; petiole 1-5 lin. long. _Cymes 
racemiform or panicled, glabrous or hispidulous; bracts deciduous ; 
