Tab. 7617. 



CYRTOSPERMA senegalense, Engl. 



Native of Upper Guinea. 



Nat. Ord. Aroide^:. — Tribe Orontie*. 

 Genus Cyrtosperma, Griff. • (Benth. & Eook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 997.) 



Cyrtosperma (Lasimorpha) senegalense ; foliis ambitu hastato-oblongis snb- 

 acntia, lobis basilaribua oblongo-lanceolatis obtusis lamina J-g breviori- 

 bus sinu angusto, petiolo elongato pedunculoque sparse aculeatis, 

 pedunculo robusto petiolo duplo longiore, spatha fere pedali oblongo- 

 lanceolata valde acuminata flavo-viridi rubro-brunneo fasciata baBi vix 

 convoluta, spadice spatha multo breviore cylindracea obtusa saturate 

 violaceo-purpurea, floribus 3-4-meris, periantbii segmentis quadratis 

 truncatis, anthera filamento quadra to asquilonga et-lata, ovario oblongo 

 in stylum brevem crassum clavatum desiaente, etigmate parvo umbonato, 

 baccis mono8permis. 



O. senegalense, Engl. Monog. Arac. p. 270. 



Lasimorpha senegalensis, Schott in Bonplandia 1857, p. 127; Gen. Aroid. 

 t. 85, fig. 1-10 ; Prodr. Avoid, p. 406. 



The genus Cyrtosperma consists of nine or ten species 

 of tall, tropical Asiatic, African, and American Aroids, 

 natives of watery places. It has been divided by Schott 

 and Engler into several sections, according to the number 

 of parts of the flower and ovules in the ovary. C. sene- 

 galense inhabits swamps along the whole west coast of 

 tropical Africa from Senegal, where it was discovered by 

 the French botanical collectors, Heudelot and Perrottet, to 

 Fernando Po and Old Calabar. It is closely allied to 

 C. Afzelii, Engl., a much larger species, said to attain a 

 height of twelve to thirteen feet, with a spathe twenty 

 inches long, and a globose spadix, which, like that of 

 C. senegalense, is almost black-purple. 



A drawing of the spathe of C. seTkegalense, sent to Kew 

 by Mr. Harold B. Lloyd, Assistant Curator, Bot. Garden, 

 Old Calabar, represents that organ as nearly eighteen inches 

 long, and the spadix as nearly six inches long. The 

 tuberous roots of G. senegalense were sent to Kew in 

 July, 1897, by the late Mr. H. W. L. Billington, who as 

 Curator of the Botanical station of Old Calabar, fell a 

 victim to the malarious climate of the African coast. It 

 October 1st, 1898. 



