Urera.} CXXIIIp. URTICACEH (Rendle). 257 
branches which end in one or more thick fusiform pellucid protuber- 
ances bearing stinging hairs; perianth sac-like, completely envelop- 
ing the narrow elliptic-ovoid ovary; ovary } lin. long; stigma 
ferruginous, rounded, projecting from the mouth of the perianth. 
Achene compressed, ovate, about 1 lin. long.—De Wild. & Durand, 
Pl. Thonner. Congol. 11, t. 18; Th. & Hél. Durand, Syll. Fl. Congol. 
512. U. Dewevret, De Wild. & Durand in Comptes-rendus Soc. Bot. 
Belg. xxxviii. 49, and Reliq. Dewevr. 219; Th. & Hél. Durand, l.c. 
U. Henriquesii and U. Dinklagei, Engl. in Engl. Jahrb. xxxiii, 121. U. 
obovata, Benth., var. Jihefo, Hiern in Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. i. 986, partly. 
Upper Guinea. Cameroons: Batanga, Dinklage, 671. Fernando Po: 
ann! 
Lower Guinea. Angola: Golungo Alto; woods on the banks of the streams 
of Quisucula, Welwitsch, 6268! Dense forest by the River Delamboa, near 
Sange, Welwitsch, 6279 ! 
South Central. Belgian Congo: Bangala Distr.; Ngali, Thonner, 29; 
Aruwimi Distr. ; forests of Lokandu, Dewevre, 1116. 
I have seen no authentic specimen of U. Thonneri, De Wild., but from the 
description and figure do not hesitate to regard the Angolan specimens as con- 
specific. Nor can I find in the description of A. Dinklagei any distinctive 
character ; Engler distinguishes it from the Angolan plant by the glabrous stem 
and leaves, but this character is not constant in our series of specimens from 
Angola, and the Congo specimen has also unarmed glabrous branches and 
glabrous leaves. De Wildeman’s description of U. Dewevrei coincides with that 
of U. Thonneri, except that the former has only male and the latter only female 
flowers ; the specimens from Angola and Cameroons are also represented only 
by female flowers. 
U. congolensis, De Wild. & Durand (in Comptes-rendus Soc. Bot. Belg. 
XXXViii. 50), as described, differs only in the shorter male inflorescence, the 
flowers in which have a perianth only 3 lin. long. The authors state, however, 
that they saw only a single detached panicle; this perhaps was not fully 
developed and in view of the striking coincidence of the description with our 
Angolan specimens which De Wildeman had not, I believe, the opportunity 
of seeing, I am inclined to regard the plants as conspecific. 
_ 4. U. obovata, Benth. in Hook. Niger Fl. 516. A dicecious climb- 
ing shrub ; young branches armed with short simple or forked pro- 
tuberances which end in stinging hairs, hollow, up to } in. thick at a 
distance of 8 in. from the tip. Leaves sbort- or long-stalked, thinly 
membranous when dry, obovate to elliptic-obovate, shortly and 
abruptly acuminate, base bluntly rounded to emarginate, margin 
crenate, at least in the upper half, becoming entire below the middle, 
base 3-nerved, with 3 additional nerves on each side ascending and 
uniting below the margin, nerves conspicuous on the lower face as 
are also the somewhat parallel cross-nerves, 3-6 in. long, 2-3} in. 
wide, upper face much darker than the lower with a few appressed 
stinging hairs, otherwise glabrous, both faces or especially the lower 
marked with short linear sometimes intermingled with dot-like 
cystoliths ; petiole 4-5 in. long, sparsely armed with short simple 
protuberances which support a stinging hair. Stipules narrowly 
triangular-acuminate, caducous. Male inflorescence large, exceeding 
FL. TROP, AFR. VI. SECT. I. s 
