VOYAGE TO THE NIGER. 35 
close-growing shrubby Rubiacee, with shining leaves, inter- 
mingled with Gloriosa superba, Cissi, Leguminose, Banisterie, 
as creepers, leaving hardly room for Melastoma and other 
low plants that peep through with their fine blossoms. _ It is 
a very interesting sight, that of a few Oil Palms growing in 
a clump; the ribs of the lower leaves still adhering to the 
stems, which are clothed with a fresh verdure of parasitical 
Ferns and Orchidacee ; whilst other parasites, such as Ferns, 
Pothos, Anone, Commeline, small Rubiacee and Leguminosae, 
choose the airy shelter of the foliage for their habitation. 
Of single plants one might specify Sarcocephalus, which 
occurs frequently, the same Phyllanthus as in Liberia, 
Schmidelia Africana, a genus of Apocynee, apparently new 
and near Tabernemontana, remarkable for its double fruit as 
large as a child’s head, the seeds nestling in the almost woody 
pulp, wild Sugar-cane, not in blossom, Conocarpus erectus, 
var. 8. a small shrub, a probably new Cassytha, Scevola 
(really different from S. Lobelia?), Indigofere sp. Canne sp. 
Cassia occidentalis (cult*.), Borreria Kohautiana, &c. The 
Stylosanthes forms a close jungle, with its erect and much 
branched stem, about 14 foot high, along the sandy shore. 
A few open spaces amongst the shrubby woods were covered, 
as if cultivated, with Cyperacee ; amongst which a species of 
Eriocaulon is frequent. A few more watered spots showed 
Grasses, with a beautiful Orchidea 2 or 8 feet high. Near the 
village, I found Euphorbia drupifera, Schum. An excursion to 
the river enabled me to examine the Mangrove woods, where 
a Rhizophora (different from R. Mangle?), but not yet in 
ripe fruit, formed the bulk of the woods: amongst it an 
Avicennia, judging by the leaves, different from that at Sierra 
Leone (nitida 2), was frequent ; and the shrubby Conocarpus 
racemosus (is it not identical with an American species ?), which 
80 faras I know, has not yet been enumerated amongst African 
Plants, but inhabits similar situations at Sierra Leone. Inter- 
mixed with these, Drepanocarpus lunatus rendered my pro- 
Bress very difficult. Pandanus Candelabrum, without leaves, 
Occurs here for the first time, in swamps. An £t (a tree 
