Tap. $231. 
HIBISCUS aponzrurus. © 
~ Tropical East Africa. 
MALvVAcEAr. Tribe Hipisconan. 
Hiiscus, Linn.; Benth, et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. i. p. 207; Hochreutiner in 
Ann. Conserv. & Jard. Bot. Geneve, vol. iv. 1900, p. 28. 
-Hibiscus aponeurus, Sprague et Hutchinson in Kew Bull. 1908, p. 54; affinis 
Hf. crassinervio, Hochst., a quo bracteolis lineari-subulatis calyce manifeste 
brevioribus calycisque venatione recedit. 
Planta erecta, fruticans, 0°3-1 m. alta, stricte ramosa, caule inferne denudato, 
ramis gracilibus dense asperule stellato-pubescentibus. Folia ovata vel 
elliptica, interdum subtrilobata, apice rotundata vel obtusa, basi rotundata, 
2-5-4 cm. longa, 2-8 cm. lata, serrulata, utrinque sed subtus densius 
asperule pubescentia; petioli 1-2 cm. longi. Stipulae filiformes, 5-9 mn. 
longae. lores plantae cultae in axillis solitarii, pedunculis 3 em. longis 
circiter 8 mm. infra apices articulatis. Bracteolae 9-13, ascendentes, 
inaequales, lineari-subulatae, 4-6 mm. longae, antrorse hirsutae. _ Calyx 
extra dense stellato-hirsutus, intus superne minute pubescens, inferne 
glaber ; tubus 3 mm. longus, 15-nervius; lobi e basi triangulari-subulati, 
vix ultra 5 mm. longi, basi 2 mm. lati, trinervii, superne reflexi. Corollu 
vivide coccinea, 2°5 cm. diametro, extra stellato-pilosa. Columna staminea 
curvata (au semper?), apice 5-dentata, staminum verticillos quatuor 
alternantes gerens, quorum infimus oppositipetalus, pentandrus, ceteri 
decandri; filamentella 1-2 mm. longa. Uvarium 5-loculare, minute albo- 
tomentellum, loculis 5-7-ovulatis; stigmata capitata, penicillata. Capsula 
ellipsoidea, vix ultra 1 em. longa, 8 mm. diametro, nitidula, pubescens.— 
Hl. crassinervius, T. Thoms. in Speke, Journal, p. 627, non Hochst. 
H. gossypinus, Mast. in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. vol. 1, p. 205, partim, non 
Pie oe H. gossypinus, var., Oliv. in Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xxix. p. 37, 
t. 14. . 
Hibiscus aponeurus belongs to the section Bombycella, 
which is characterized by relatively small flowers and 
woolly seeds, and includes about forty species, nearly two- 
thirds of which are natives of Africa. H. aponeurus is 
intermediate, both geographically and in technical characters, 
between AZ. crassinervius, Hochst., and #. Hildebrandtii, 
Sprague & Hutchinson, and has been found over a wide 
area in Uganda, British East Africa and German East 
Africa, occurring at elevations of 4,000—-6,000 ft. According 
to Grant, it grows both in the valleys and on the hills of 
Karagué. : 
Comparatively few species of the section seem to have 
come into cultivation, among them being JH. phoeniceus, 
DecremBer, 1908. 
