Liberia <^ 



tliinc, an alkaloid of threat medical value. As they are perfectly 

 glabrous (hence known in commerce i\9, '' Stro/^haiit/tns ^i^iciibre" 

 or ^". _<;/aln-r), they cannot well be adultcrattxl or confused with 

 the hairy seeds of other species of StropluiJitlnis. 



S. sarmentosus, A. P. DC. {syii. S. paroissci, I^'rauc/i.): a tall climbing 

 glabrous deciduous shrub with papery ovate to oblong leaves 

 and small clusters of white long-tailed flowers with pink marks 

 inside and purple scales in the throat (funnel-shaped corolla tube 

 I — I in. long, tailed lobes 2 — 2h in. long) and with horizontally 

 spreading spindle-shaped follicles, 8-12 in. by almost f in., 

 containing brown silky seeds bearing a plumose awn at one 

 end, the awn 2 — 3 in. long ; Monrovia, ]\7iytc ! 



Isonema smeathmannii, Rociii. and Schiilt. : a more or less hairy climb- 

 ing shrub with narrow stiff rusty tomentose panicles of reddish 

 flowers (corolla tube ^ in., lobes \ in. longj and spindle-shaped 

 brown velvet}' follicles, 5 — 6 in. long ; Kakatown, ]Vhyte ! ; Grant's 

 Farm by the Sino River, Whytc ! 



Funtumia africana, Stapf {syii. Kickxia africana, BentJi., Plate 260) : 

 a tree from 15 to 80 ft. high with oblong-acuminate leaves 

 usually \\\i\\ some minute down in the nerve-axils on the under- 

 side, with dense axillary clusters of white or yellowish waxy 

 flowers (over \ — | in. long in the adult bud, with the lobes \ — \ 

 in. long) and spindle-shaped, acutely acuminate divaricate follicles, 

 8 — 9 in. long, containing numerous plumose seeds resembling 

 those of a Strof^liaiithns, but with the plume of the awn pointing 

 towards the seeds; Sino Basin, ]Vhytc\ Sim, 4! — The rubber 

 obtained from this tree is sticky like bird-lime, and therefore 

 worthless. 



F. elastica, Stapf {sy 11. Kickxia elastica, Prc/iss, Plate 261): a tree 

 up to 100 ft. high, similar to the preceding species, but dis- 

 tinguishable by the leaves having on the underside minute pits 

 and no down in the nerve-axils, the smaller flowers (up to h in. 

 long in the adult bud with the lobes up to j in. long) and the 

 oblong-clavate very obtuse and woody follicles (6 in. long) ; by 

 the Sino River, about 40 miles inland, Shn 1 — This is one of 

 the most important rubber trees of Africa, concerning which 

 much information can be found in Schlechter's book JFest- 

 AfrikiDiiscIie KantscJiuk-Expedition. The name Kickxia is 

 not applicable to this tree and its African congeners, as it has 



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