Tas. 8343. 
PLEIOCARPA motica. 
West Africa. 
APOCYNACEAE. ‘Tribe PLUMERIOIDEAE. 
Prierocarpa, Benth.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 699. 
Pleiocarpa mutica, Bevth. in Hook. Ic. Pl. t. 1181; Stapf in Thiselton-Dyer, 
Fl. Ircp. Afr. vol. iv. pars i. p. 98; affinis P. rostratue, Benth., sed 
corolla inulto breviore eius lobis brevibus et fructu haud rostrato ovoideo- 
globoso distincta. 
Trutex, 1°5 m. altus, ramis fuscescentibus. Fo/ia elliptica vel oblonga, abrupte 
acuminata, basi acuta vel subacuta, 8-16 em longa, 3-5-6 em. lata, tenuiter 
coriacea, supra lucida, nervis utrinque 11-14; petiolus 6 mm. longus. 
Flores in fasciculos globosos multifloros axillares dispositi, brevissime 
pedicellati. Sepals ovata, obtusa vel subacuta, ad 2 min. longa. Corolla 
Jactea, tubo eylindrico 12-16 mm. longo, lobis ovatis vel oblongis, obtusis, 
6-7 mm. longis. Carpelia 5, uniovulata. Fructis baecati, ovoideo-globosi, 
obtusi vel apiculati, rugosi, 8 mm. lungi.—Hunteriu p/eiocarpa, Haliier f., 
Kantschuklianen in Jahrb. Hamburg. Wissensch. Anstalt. vol. xvii. (1899) 3. 
Beih. p. 193, partim.—O. Starr. 
The genus Pleiocarpa, to which the subject of our plate 
belongs, is endemic in Tropical Africa, from which region 
twelve species have so far been reported. The one here 
figured, P. mutica, is a native of the Cameroons, where it 
was first met with by Mr. G. Mann. It has since been 
found in Old Calabar, whence it has been introduced to 
European horticulture. The material made use of in 
preparing our illustration has been derived from a plant 
which flowered at Kew in June, 1909; this plant was raised 
from a cutting received from the Glasgow Botanic Garden 
in 1902. It has thriven well in a stove under the tropical 
conditions suitable for species of Jxora, and is striking 
from the cultural standpoint owing to the profusion of its 
beautiful white flowers. From the morphological point of 
view it is interesting on account of the presence in the 
flower of five carpels. This peculiarity it shares with 
another species, P. rostrata, Benth., while in a third species, 
P. salicifolia, Stapf, there are three or four carpels. ‘The 
remaining species of Pleiocarpa have only two carpels, 
which is the number characteristic of the order Apocynaceae. 
November, 1910, 
