Tas. 8222. 
MUSSAENDA ERYTHROPHYLLA. 
Tropical Africa. 
RusiaceaE. Tribe MUSSAENDEAE. 
MussaEnnA, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 64. 
= 
Mussaenda erythrophylla, Schum. et Thonn. Pl. Guin. p. 116; Hiern in Oliv. 
Fl. Trop. Afr. vol. iii. p. 69; species prae folio calycino producto maximo 
puniceo insignis. 
Frutex alte scandens vel vagans vel in campo aperto suberectus, fere 
- undique plus minusve molliter pubescens vel villosus, ramis floriferis 
tenuiusculis teretibus saepe pilis rubris vestitis. Folia ambitu valde 
variabilia, petiolata, membranacea vel papyracea, ovata vel elliptica, rarius 
lanceolata vel paene orbicularia, cum petiolo usque ad 18 em. longa, sed 
saepius minora, basi nunc rotundata nunc cordata, rarius cuneata vel longe 
attenuata, apice acuta, attenuate vel abrupte acuminata, margine integro 
ciliato, in utraque pagina pubescentia, venis primariis lateralibus con- 
spicuis interdum rubris; stipulae bifidae vel trifidae, circiter 1 cm. longae. 
Flores absque folio calycino circiter 3 cm. diametro, in cymas parvas 
dichotomas densas terminales dispositi, alii sessiles alii breviter pedicellati, 
extra pilis longis patentibus puniceis dense vestiti, intus flavi, demum 
rubescentes. Calycis tubus florum centralium saepius sterilium breviter 
obovoideus, limbi lobis omnibus inter se aequalibus; is florum exteriorum 
plerumque fertilium oblongo-cylindricus, Jimbi lobis nunc omnibus 
‘aequalibus lanceolatis acutis 1-1-5 em. longis, nune, plerumque unius 
floris in quaque cyma, quatuor aequalibus lanceolatis, quinto in folium 
amplum coccineum vel puniceum jam ante anthesin producto; hoc folium 
calycinum, ut folia propria, ambitu variabile, interdum usque ad 12 cm. 
longum et 10 cm. latum, nervis 5-7 percursum, inconspicue parce 
uberulum. Corolla hypocrateriformis; tubus cylindricus, sursum modice 
ilatatus ; limbi lobi ovati, 1-1-5 cm. longi, obtusi, patentes, fauce pilis 
longis atropurpureis dense barbata. Stamina 5, fauci corollae adnata, 
filamentis brevissimis; antherae inclusae, acutae, Discus annularis. 
Ovarium 2-loculare, loculis multiovulatis; stylus glaber, bifidus, inclusus. 
—AM. splendida, Welw. in Trans. Linn. Soc. 1869, vol. xxvii. p. 36, t. 13. 
This showy shrub was first described as long ago as 1827, 
from specimens collected by Thonning on the Gold Coast, 
but the oldest herbarium specimens at Kew were collected 
by Mr. Gustav Mann in February, 1862, in the Cameroons, 
at an elevation between 3,000 and 4,500 ft. It has since 
been collected by numerous travellers in various localities, 
from Sierra Leone to Angola and eastward ‘to Uganda, 
November, 1908. 
