Tab. 8712. 
MYRSINE .AFrRIcana. 
Africa, India, Chinté 
Myrsinaceak. Tribe EumMYRSINEAE. 
Myrsinz, Linn.; Benth, et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 642. 
Myrsine africana, Linn. Sp. Plant. ed. 1, p. 196; Thunb. Fl. Cap. ed. 
Schultes, p. 195; Lam. Encyc, Meth. t. 122; Duhamel, Traité des Arbres, 
vol. ii. p. 242, t. 70; DC. Prodr. vol. viii. p. 93; Dyer, Fl. Cap. 
vol. iv. sect. i, p. 434; Oliver, Fl. Trop. Afr. vol. iii. p. 498; Collett, Fl. 
Simlensis, p. 804, fig. 94; species foliis parvis dentatis a caeteris 
distinctissima. 
Frutex dioicus, 0-6-1 m, altus, ramis minute puberulis vel fere glabris, brunneis, 
Folia alterna, coriacea, glabra; petioli 1-2 mm. longi; lamina 0°5-2°5 em. 
longa, 4-12 mm. lata, lanceolata, obovata vel elliptica, obtusa vel acuta, 
apiculata, basi saepe cuneata, marginibus supra medium paucidentatis, 
supra atro-viridia, nitida, subtus pallidiora. Flores unisexuales, 2-5 in 
fasciculos axillares dispositi; pedicelli 0°5-1'5 mm. longi, glabri. Calyx 
5-lobus, pallide brunneus, punctatus, masculi 1 mm. longus, foeminei 
0°5-0°7 mm. longus; lobi ovati vel oblongi, obtusi vel acuti, minute 
glanduloso-ciliati vel glabri. Corolla 1°5 mm. longa, campanulata, 
4-5-loba, pallide brunnea, punctata; lobi floris masculi late ovati, floris 
feminei anguste ovati, acuti, glanduloso-ciliati. Stamina 4-5, floris 
masculi corolla duplo longiora, antheris 1°5 mm. longis violaceo-purpureis ; 
floris feminei cum corolla aequilonga, abortiva. Ovariwm ovoideum, in 
stylum attenuatum, a flore masculo absens ; stigma maximum, discoideum, 
dentato-lobatum. Bacca globosa, glabra, violaceo-purpurea, nitida.— 
N. E. Brown. 
The species here figured has been in cultivation in 
English gardens for more than two centuries. It is a 
small evergreen of very neat appearance, and when in 
fruit is singularly ornamental and pleasing. It is, more- 
over, perfectly hardy, and the single plant in the Rock 
Garden at Kew has grown there without any protection for 
the past twenty years. It thrives in either a light loamy 
or peaty soil and may be readily propagated by cuttings. 
In spite of these recommendations it is but rarely 
met with in collections and has been so little regarded 
that no horticultural figure appears to have been pub- 
lished. This is probably due to the fact that the plant 
is strictly dioecious, and that growers who have not been 
May, 1917, 
