154 LXXXIV. APOCYNACEH (STAPF). | Voacanga. 
the collectors) pale sulphur-yellow flowers, whilst Schweinfurth describes the corollas 
as white and Welwitsch as whitish. A very similar species occurs in Natal: 
V. Dregei, E. Meyer. Much more material with good flowers, fruits and seeds is 
required before it can be definitely decided whether V’. obtusa should be treated as 
a species distinct from V. Thouarsii. At the same time it is also possible that the 
above description covers more than one species, 
Scheffler (l.c.) gives a description of a tree found in the Usambara forests, which 
he names V. obtusa. It is a tall tree with a slender stem, slender erect branches, 
and scanty foliage. The flowers are sulphur-yellow, waxy, and in size and shape 
very similar to those of Vabernemontana Holstii, The wood is hard, yellowish- 
white, the bark smooth, dark grey, and the fruits dark green, mottled with yellowish- 
white. This tree sheds its foliage completely by the end of October and beginning 
of November, The new leaves appear early in December. 
2. V. Thouarsii, Roem. d: Schultes, Syst. Veg. iv. 439. A glabrous 
tree or shrub ; branches stout, pallid or the youngest blackish when dry; 
leaf-buds more or less coated with resin. Leaves crowded towards the 
ends of the branches, obovate- or oblong-cuneate, broadly rounded at 
the apex, 4-8 in. long, 14-84 in. broad, subcoriaceous, dull when dry; 
secondary nerves 12—16 on each side, subhorizontal, straight for the 
greatest part or slightly curved, slender ; petiole very variable in length, 
rarely over } in. long. Inflorescences usually geminate from the branch- 
forks, racemiform (consisting really of racemosely arranged reduced 
cymes); peduncle stout, 2-4 in. long; rhachis stout, gradually lengthen 
ing up to 3 in. as the lower flowers fall; bracts ovate, concave, up t0 
5 lin. long, caducous; pedicels stout, 3-5 lin. long. Calyx wide-tubular, 
54-7 lin. long, early circumscissile at the base, with very numerous 
glands within; lobes rotundate, 2 lin. long. Corolla white, fleshy; 
tube subcylindric, slightly constricted, 8-10 lin. long, twisted from the 
middle upwards, quite glabrous ; limb in bud ellipsoid, 6 lin. long ; lobes 
subobcordate, up to 1 in. long, and more than 1 in. broad. Anthers 
inserted close to the mouth of the corolla, exserted for half their length, 
3-3} lin. long. Dise cupular, obscurely lobed, exceeding the ovary an 
adnate to it only at the base, persistent. Style up to 8 lin. long ; stigma 
shortly cylindric, grooved, with a frill at the base. Berries globose, 
of the size of an apple (Baron) or a walnut (Kirk), mottled —K. Schum. 
in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam, iv. ii, 149. 
Mozamb. Dist. German East Africa: Mafia Island, Kirk / 
Also in Madagascar, 
3. V. angolensis, Stapf ex Hiern in Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. i. 668 
partly. A small tree, 6-9 ft. high; branches moderately stout, pubes 
cent when young, pallid. Leaves broadly ovate- or obovate- or elliptic 
lanceolate, acute to acutely acuminate, acute at the base or decurrent 0D 
the petiole, rarely more or less panduriform and subsessile, up to 10 12. 
long, 2-4 in. broad, thinly coriaceous, pubescent beneath chiefly on the 
midrib and nerves, at least near the base, or glabrescent ; secondary 
nerves 12-15 on each side, slender, oblique ; petiole up to 4 lin. long ¥ 
hardly any. Inflorescences geminate, terminal, few-flowered, short ; 
racemiform or umbelliform, softly pubescent, at least below; peduncle 
