Maprounea. } CXXII, EUPHORBIACE# (PRAIN). 10038 
Ovary ovoid. Capsule red, globose, about } in. across. Seeds black, 
ovoid, irregularly rugulose, } in, long; caruncle vermilion, as large as 
the body of the seed.—M. africana, Pax ex Durand & De Wild. 
Contrib. Fl. Congo, i. 52; De Wild. & Durand, Reliq. Dewevr. 213; 
De Wild. Etudes Fl. Bas- et Moyen-Congo, i. 279, wholly, and ii. 289, 
partly (Moanda and Eala specimens only) Th. & Hél. Durand, Syll. Fl. 
Congol. 499, partly: not of Miill. Arg. M. bridelioides, Pierre MSS. 
Upper Guinea. Cameroons: Batanga, Dinklage, 1425! Bipinde, Zenker, 
2086! 2412! 2557! 3003! 3436! 
_ Lower Guinea. Spanish Guinea: Bebuo, Tessmann,670! Gaboon: Libre- 
Ville, Klaine, 108! 148! 332! 584! 6430! French Congo: Modgaka, Thollon, 
37! Kitobi, Lecomte, B65! Brazzaville, Chevalier, 5008! Lower Congo: Banana; 
Moanda, Gillet, 4070! Stunley Pool district ; near Leopoldville, Gillet / 
South Central. Belgian Congo: Equatorial Prov.; Eula, Pynaert, 1261! 
1327! Seret, 820! Bangala district; Bangala, Dewevre, 877! 
A very distinct species whose features have been well elucidated by its authors, 
and also by Pierre, who has issued an excellent series of analytical drawings, but 
whose unpublished name has unfortunately not been taken up. Pax and Hoffmann 
think the Species is perhaps more nearly allied to the American than to the other 
African forms; Pierre has considered it equally distinct from both, and has suggested 
that it may be treated as the type of a distinct section which he has named 
Spherandra. It is to be noted that in the Cameroons and in Spanish Guinea the 
Spikes appear, as Pax and Hoffmann state, to be always l-sexual and the plants to 
be usually diecious. In the Gaboon, however, and in the Banana district of the 
Belgian Congo, while the spikes appear to be usually 1-sexual, the plants are 
usually monccious. In the French Congo, on the other hand, and in the Belgian 
Congo from Stanley Pool eastwards, it is unusual to find a specimen without some 
androgynous spikes. 
_ 2. M. gracilis, Dewevre MSS. in Herb. Bruw. A shrub 5-7 ft. 
high, all parts glabrous; ultimate twigs passing into the inflorescence 
1-1} in. long. Leaves short-petioled, thinly membranous, with age 
becoming firmly papery, ovate-lanceolate or ovate, obtuse, base rounded 
or faintly cordate, margin entire, }-1} in., very rarely 2 in. long, 
3-1 in. wide, glaucescent beneath, finely nerved and reticulate; petiole 
slender, 4-4 in. long; stipules small, triangular. Inflorescence usually 
2-sexual; male portion globose or subglobose, 4 in. long, dense-flowered ; 
female flowers 1-2, basal, long-pedicelled, pedicels in fruit up to ? in. 
long; male bracts lanceolate, acute, each 3-flowered, with 2 simple or 
“ccasionally 2-partite basal glands; bracts and flowers greenish-yellow. 
Male calyx irregularly 2-3-lobed. Stamens 2-3, exserted. Ovary 
Subglobose. Capsule red, globose, about } in. (rarely } in.) across. 
Seeds dark slate-grey or dull black, subglobose, smooth, } in. long; 
¢aruncle half as large as the body of the seed.—ZJ. africana, Pax ex 
Durand & De Wild, in Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg. xxxvii. 107, wholly ; 
Th. & Hél. Durand, Syll. F]. Congol. 499, partly: not of Mull. Arg. 
‘ M. africana, var. obtusa, Pax }.c., and Th. & Hél. Durand, |.c. 500, partly 
(as to Laurent 14 only). Jf. africana, var. gracilis, Pax & K. Hoffm. in 
Eng]. Pflanzenr. Euphorb.-Hippoman. 179. 
Upper Guinea. Cameroons: Tibati, 3000 ft., Ledermann, 2435! 
