646 CXXII. EUPHORBIACEA (HUTCHINSON). | Antidesma. 
side, not or scarcely looped near the margin, scarcely raised on the 
upper surface, prominent below; veins lax, faint ; petiole 2-5 lin. long, 
densely pubescent, becoming glabrous; stipules entire, subulate- 
Janceolate, acute, 2-3 lin. long, pubescent. Male inflorescence 2-5 in, 
long ; axis pubescent; bracts small, ovate, acute, long-ciliate. Calyx 
3—4-lobed ; lobes ciliate. Disk fleshy, glabrous. Stamens 3-4. Rudi- 
mentary ovary fleshy, very sparingly and minutely pubescent or 
glabrous. Female racemes 6-7 in. long; axis minutely puberulous, 
slightly suleate ; pedicels in the fruiting stage for the most part reflexed, 
stout, 1-1} lin. long, almost glabrous. Calyx pilose. Fruits elliptic, 
slightly compressed, subacute at both ends, 3-4 lin. long, 23 lin. broad, 
glabrous, tipped by the persistent styles —Miill. Arg. in DC. Prodr. 
Xv. il. 261, excl. var. molle; Pax in De Wild. & Durand, Contr. Fi. 
Congo, i. 49, and Relig. Dewevr. 206; De Wild. Etudes FI. Bas- et 
Moyen-Congo, ii. 270. 
Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, Simeathman. Northern Nigeria: Nupe, 
Barter, 1557! Southern Nigeria: Adiabo, Old Calabar, Holland, 89! Cameroons: 
Bipinde, Zenker, 955! 1175! 1326! 1649! 1977! 2413! 2606! 2872! 3075! 
30754! 3254! 3272! 3643! 3917! 3849! Yaunde, Zenker, 1423! Abonando, 
Rudatis, 43! and without precise locality, Preuss, 1321! 
Lower Guinea. Gaboon: Sibange Farm, Soyaux, 89! 252! Lower Congo: 
Dembo, Vanderyst ; between Kisantu and the River Kwango, Bittner. 
South Central. Belgian Congo: Wukolela, Dewevre; Eala, Pynaert, 
Laurent ; Madibi, Sapin ; Mobeka, Pynaert ; Gombari, Seret. 
IT cannot quite agree with Mueller in his treatment of this species and of 
A. venosum, Tul. In Linnea (l.c.) he described A. membranaceum under two 
varietal names, var. a molle from a specimen collected by Smeathman in Sierra 
Leone, and from several of Welwitsch’s numbers from Angola; and var. 
8 glabrescens from Barter, 1557. Later, in Decandolle’s Prodromus, he added 
a third variety, var. tenuifolium, founded on Smeathman’s plant. . I cannot dis- 
tinguish var. molle as defined in the Prodromus from many of the specimens 
which he quotes under A. venosum, Tul., and it is, in consequence, here reduced 
_to that species... His variety glabrescens should therefore be regarded as pen: 
A. membranaceum. 
7. A.venosum, Jul. in Ann. Sci. Nat. 3me sér. xv. 232. Ashrub 
or tree about 30 ft. high, usually found in sandy places near rivers: 
Leaves usually more or less elliptic or oblanceolate, somewhat rounded 
or subacute at the base and apex, sometimes slightly emarginate, up - 
6 in, long and 2} in. broad, thinly coriaceous or almost membranous, 
glabrous or pubescent above, varying from thinly pubescent to tomentose 
below ; lateral nerves usually about 7 on each side, more or less dis- 
tinctly looped, slightly impressed above, prominent below; petiole up 
to 3 lin. long, pubescent ; stipules lanceolate, entire, acute, mostly more 
or less tomentose. Male spikes up to 6 in. long, tomentose or pubes- 
cent; bracts very small. Calyx 3-5-partite, more or less pubescent or 
tomentose. Disk subglabrous. Stamens 3-5. Rudimentary hinet A 
pilose or subglabrous. Female racemes 2-5 in. long; bracts as we ; 
male. Fruits pedicellate, ellipsoid, slightly flattened, glabrous, ere 
4 lin. long and 2 lin. broad.—Miill. Arg. in DC. Prodr. xv. 0. “0 
Pax in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 237, and in Baum, Kunene-Samb. Exped. 
