352 CXXX. CYCADACEA) (Prain). [Hncephalartos. 
Zanzibar: among bushes on recent coral formation, A7rk (and photograph)! 
Sacleux, 6264! Werth. 
The Mtsapu of the Rabai range (Taylor), the Mkarabdéka of Useguha (Stuhl- 
mann), this species is sometimes termed the East African Sago-palm (Engler). 
The stem, like that of various South African species, yields Kaftir Bread (Hngler), 
whence the generic name LHncephalartos, év Kepadh uptos; near Mombasa, 
the farinaceous seeds serve as food in time of famine (Hildebrandt). Allied, 
among the tropical species, most closely to E. laurentianus, De Wild., of Uganda 
and the Belgian Congo and to LZ. gratus, Prain, of Nyasaland, 2. Hildebrandtit 
differs from the former in the shape of the female cone-scales, from the latter 
in that of the male cone-scales, from both by its narrower, less distinctly falcate 
pinnules ; less nearly allied to E. villosus, Lem., of Natal, whereof H. Hilde- 
brandtii has by some authors been thought a geographical form. _ It is difficult 
in certain stages to discriminate H. Hildebrandtit from E. villosus by their 
foliage ; the female cone-scales, umbonate in HL. Hildebrandtii, flattened in 
E. villosus, differ however so essentially as to invalidate the suggestion that the 
two are conspecific. 
5. E. ferox, Bertol. f. in Mem. Accad. Sci. Bologn. iii. (1851), 264. 
Stem fusiform, about 24 ft. high, 1 ft. in diam. Leaves 10 in. wide 
above the middle; petiole and rhachis subcylindric; pinnules 
firmly coriaceous, ovate-oblong, not at all falcate, 4-6 in. long, 17-2 in. 
wide, very oblique at the base and then rounded on the upper, 
narrow-cuneate on the lower edge, apex broad, pungently 2—4-spines- 
cent, margin with 2-4 strong triangular diverging pungent teeth on 
either edge. Female cone subsessile, sometimes 8 in one crown, 
red (Fornasini). Seeds with outer coat black (Fornasini).—Engl. 
Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 92; De Wild. Ic. Hort. Then. iv. 181 ; Prain in Kew 
Bulletin, 1916, 180. 
Mozamb. Distr. Portuguese East Africa : Mozambique, Fornasint. 
The trunk of EH. ferox yields a kind of flour used as food; the black seeds are 
not edible (Fornasini). As regards the bases and the marginal toothing of the 
leaf-pinnules this species resembles HZ. lawrentianus, De Wild., of Uganda and the 
Belgian Congo, and Z. gratus, Prain, of Nyasaland. In this Mozambique plant, 
however, the pinnules are much shorter relatively to their width and are nearly 
straight. From EH. Hildebrandtii, A. Br. & Bouché, which is met with from 
Dar-es-Salaam northwards to Mombasa, EZ. ferox differs in having much shorter 
and broader more coarsely toothed leaf-pinnules, and in having seeds with a 
black instead of vermilion outer coat. No specimen of E. ferox has been seen ; 
we are, however, indebted to Professor Antonio Bertoloni for a water-colour 
drawing of a portion of one of the leaves on which his grandfather’s original 
account of EF. ferox was mainly based. 
6. E. gratus, Prain in Kew Bulletin, 1916, 181. Stem usually 
very short, globose or ellipsoid, often entirely underground, 1-1} ft. 
high, 1 ft. in diam., occasionally and especially in male plants sub- 
cylindric, up to 3-4 ft. high and at times over 2 ft. in diam., closely 
covered with alternating scales and persistent imbricating leaf- 
bases clothed with grey cottony tomentum. Leaves usually 4-5 ft., 
occasionally up to 7 ft. long, 12 in. wide above the middle, dark- 
green; petiole and rhachis subcylindric, clothed with persistent 
grey tomentum; pinnules firmly coriaceous, 30-70 pairs, ovate- 
