328 LAnnean Society. [June 6, 



forms; among them a Gleichenia (anne Gl. Hermanni, R. Br.?), 

 " stipite scandente saepitis 25-pedali." 



I arrived in Loanda (Sao Paulo de Loando), the capital of Angola, 

 in the beginning of October. 1853, and since that time I have not 

 lost a moment, but my whole time has been employed in excursions ; 

 so that I have already become acquainted with and plundered up- 

 wards of forty miles of coast, from the Guizembo River (three miles 

 N. of Ambriz) to near the mouth of the mighty Cuanza (about 9° 30' 

 S. Lat.), and possess the materials for a Flora of Loanda, of five to 

 six * miles in circumference, in well-preserved specimens. 



The total number of plants which I have hitherto collected, as 

 well on the islands as in Sierra Leone and Angola, may amount to 

 about 800 species, but increases daily as the rainy season apj^roaches ; 

 all those hitherto collected having been obtained in the dry (and 

 therefore unfavourable) season. March and April are here in An- 

 gola the rainy months ; and the period of the highest and most 

 luxuriant development of vegetation falls in the months of May and 

 June, so that I have good right to hoj^e that my collection may very 

 shortly be increased to, perhaps, more than double its present amount, 

 since the annual species, as a matter of course, make their appearance 

 only in the rainy season. 



What especially surprises me here, with respect to the geogra 

 phical distribution of certain genera, is the occurrence of three oi 

 four Aloes, of a Stapelia {Heurnia), and several other Cape genera. 

 Of Euphorbia I have already found near Loanda a gigantic species, 

 with a stem 2i feet in diameter and upwards of 30 feet high, form- 

 ing woods, as the Pinus sylvestris does with us ! This species, which 

 is readily discernible even from ship-board, is not noticed in the 

 ' Flora Nigritiana.' 



In the lakes of the interior, distant about one to three German 

 (four to twelve English) miles from the coast, I have found almost 

 everywhere magnificent Nymphseas (^N. ccerulea, micrantha, den- 

 tata, &c.) and Pistia ; and in addition, our Typha angustifolia and 

 Scirpus maritimus. 



Of trees, there occur in the dry coast-flora only Adansonia, Ster- 

 culia, n. sp., an Afzelia, Eriodendron anfractuosum, and a Bauhinia, 

 with three species of Palm : on the rivers, however, the tree vege- 

 tation becomes more dense, and more abundant in species ; the list 

 being then augmented by Avicennia africana, Laguncularia racemosa, 

 and Rhizophora Mangle ; of which, the Laguncularia always remains 



* Q^ German miles = 4^ English. 



