174 LXXXIV, APOCYNACE& (STAPF). | Strophanthus. 
It was first stated by Livingstone in his “ Narrative of an Expedition to the 
Zambesi,” 466, that an arrow poison, called “ Kombi” by the Manganja, was pre- 
pared from a species of Strophanthus. The author adds further that Dr. (now 
Sir John) Kirk experienced a slight case of poisoning by kombi on himself followed 
by certain symptoms which suggested “that the kombi may turn out a valuable 
remedy.” From the specimens collected by Kirk and Meller in the Manganja 
country and Kirk’s notes, there cannot be any doubt that the Strophanthus, referred 
to by Livingstone, is S. Kombe, Oliv. On the other hand, it is not impossible that a 
part of the seeds which, under the name of kombe seeds, formed the subject of 
physiological and chemical investigations in some of the papers quoted above, were 
not derived from this species. 
8. S. hispidus, 4. P. DC. in Bull. Soc. Philom. iii. (1802), 123, t. 
viii. fig. 2. A tall climbing shrub; branches with stiff spreading yellow 
hairs when young, glabrescent, scabrid or rather smooth when mature, 
reddish or dark brown, scantily dotted with small lenticels. Leaves 
fully developed at the time of flowering, elliptic or oblong, shortly 
acuminate, rounded or subcordate at the base, 3-6 in. long, 14-3} in. 
broad, membranous, rather firm when quite mature, at first almost 
tomentose, then loosely hispid, ultimately more or less glabrescent 
above; secondary nerves 6-10 on each side, like the coarsely reticu- 
lating veins much raised below in the old leaves; petiole 0-1} lin. 
long. Corymbs many-flowered, contracted or more often large and 
loose, terminal on leafy branches; branches and branchlets with stiff 
spreading yellow hairs; bracts foliaceous, lanceolate, 9-10 lin. long, 
hispid ; pedicels hispid, slender, very short or up to 8 lin. long. Calyx 
foliaceous, 8-10 lin. long ; sepals lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, tapering 
into a linear acute or obtuse acumen, hispid on the back and along the 
margin, glabrous inside. Corolla yellow, puberulous outside, infra- 
staminal part 3-3} lin, long, supra-staminal part cup-shaped or shortly 
campanulate, 2—3 lin. long ; lobes produced from a short ovate base into 
filiform tails, 3-5 in. long; throat-scales ovate, obtuse, 4-3 lin. long, 
purple-spotted. Anthers acute, 2 lin. long, included. Follicles divarl- 
cate, long acuminate; 10-14 in. long, reddish-brown, coarsely striate, 
dotted with lenticels. Seeds oblong, greyish or yellowish, silky, 5 lin. 
long; awn glabrous for 9-10 lin., with the plume 34 in. long.— 
A. P. DC. in Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. i. (1802) 412, t. 27, fig. 2 (ex Desf.); 
and Strophanthus, iii. 9, t. 4 and 5; A. DC. Prod. viii. 419; Benth, in 
Hook. Niger Fl. 451; Christy, New Comm. Plants and Drugs, No. 10 
(1887), 24, with fig. ; Holmes in Pharm. Journ. xxi. (1890), 238 ; Baill. 
Arch. Physiol. 1872, 525, and in Bull. Soc. Linn. Paris, ii. 855; Blondel, 
Stroph. du Comm. 14; Baill in Bull. Soc. Linn. Paris, i. 855, 856. 
Pax in Engl. Jahrb. xv. 365, 382; Franch. in Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, 
3 ser. v. 271; K. Schum. in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. ii. 182) 
181, fig. 60; L. Planch. Prod. Apocyn. 33, 36, fig. 7, v.—xv., 41, fig. 2, 
82; Kohler, Mediz. Pflanz. ii. t. 194; Hartwich, Neue Arzneidrog: 
323; De Wild. & Durand, Contrib. Fl. Congo, i. 41, ii. 40, and i 
Relig. Dewevr. i. 155; Payrau, Strophanthus, 47-70, 163, with figs-* 
a ya nC Bull. Herb. Boiss. 2 sér. i, 34. S. hirta, Poir. Dict. Se 
vat. li. 150. 
