C. H. Ostenfeld: Contributions to West Australian Botany. II. 23 



police station. The distinguishing marks of his A. Stanburyana 

 are given as: leaflets generally 5 — 6 in number, about 16 cm long, 

 glabrous (while in A. Gregorii: 7—9, not exceeding 13 cm, and 

 white-tomentose underneath), and calyx glabrous outside (in A. Gr. 

 tomentose); and the tree is not so thick and clumsy as is the 

 case with A Gregorii. 



I do not think that these marks suffice for a distinction 

 between two species, as my material from Derby 1 shows that 

 the degree of indumentum is rather variable. In my specimens, 

 the young leaves are stellate-tomentose underneath, but the to- 

 mentum disappears when they are full-grown; further, the num- 

 ber of leaflets ranges from 5 to 9; the calyx is tomentose outside 

 in the buds, glabrous in the fully developed flowers. As regards 

 the trunk of the tree, its clumsiness augments with the age of 

 the individual (see PI. Ill, Figs. 1—2). For better information on the 

 question I asked Professor A. J. Ewart of Melbourne about the 

 material preserved in the Herbarium of Victoria (Miiller's herba- 

 rium), and he has informed me as follows: "specimens named by 

 Baron von Müller range from densely hairy to glabrous calyx 

 (outside), hence A. Stanburyana of Hochreutiner might be classed 

 a glabrous form or variety, but hardly as a species". This is 

 just my opinion: We have only one species of Adansonia, viz. 

 A. Gregorii F. v. Müll., in Australia; but as is the case in many 

 other species, it varies much with regards to its indumentum, and 

 the glabrous form may be named forma Stanburyana (Hochr.), 

 but is of very small systematical value. 



In one other respect the species varies considerably, viz. the 

 shape of the fruits. I saw specimens with ovoid fruits (f. typica; 

 see Fig. 7), some thicker and some more slender (12.5 x 7 ; 

 10.5 x 6; 10 x 5.5 cm), but I also met with specimens with com- 

 pletely globose fruits (G.5 x 6.7 cm): f. globosa (see Fig. 8); and 

 what is more remarkable, all the fruits of each tree were of the 

 same shape. This fact is known for many European trees or 

 shrubs (e. g. Quercus and Corylus), and its existence in A . Gregorii 

 corroborates Hochreutiner's suggestion (1. c. 142) that the A. 

 sphærocarpa Chév. of Madagascar is only a form of A. digitata L. 

 with globose fruit, as it agrees with the latter in all other respects. 



The fruits of A. Gregorii are densely covered with a yellow- 

 brown tomentum which, when rubbed, loosens and gives place to 



1 I only saw, but did not collect the species at Broome, as it was said 

 that the specimens were cultivated from seeds brought from Derby. 



