FUETHER NOTES ON EBENACE^. 355 



two following forms, both belonging to South Tropical Africa, and each 

 limited to its own side of the continent. 



Form 1. MACROCALTx, Klotzsch (sp.) non Alph. DC, calyce valde 

 accescente lohis in fructu latissime ovatis foliaceis non rejlexis. 



Form 2. heteeotricha, Welw. MSS,, calyee mediocriter accescente 

 lohis in fructu ovato-ohlongis suhfoliaceis demum sccpius rejlexis. 



Both forms are remarkable for the presence of pilose spreading 

 hairs on the leaves and young parts scattered amongst the short pu- 

 bescence, but in the latter form the pilose hairs are more abundant and 

 less caducous; and moreover the leaves are less membranous and 

 smaller, and the inflorescence rather shorter in heterotricha, while in 

 its variety vernalis the leaves are narrower and the flowers solitary. 

 The form heterotricha occurs in Congo and Angola, representing the 

 form macrocahjx, which occurs in Mozambique and Quiloa. 



Ed. Andre in the "Illustration Horticole" for September, 1874, 

 pages 139-142, contributed a short article on Date-plums, with the 

 chief object of extending the cultivation of the Virginian species ; in 

 this notice he recommends the better varieties to be planted in the 

 deep cool soil of Belgian and French parks and gardens, as likely to 

 become handsome trees and to produce good fruit. He also specifies 

 the following seven varieties of Diospyros virginiana, L., and gives 

 short characters for them : — insignis, piibescens, Pursh (sp,), angusti- 

 folia, Lodd. (sp.), villosa, 'purpurea, Perquini {D. calgcina, Audib.), 

 and lucida, Loud. (sp.). 



Again, E. A. Carriere, in "Revue Horticole," 1874, pages 70-71, 

 has published with a coloured plate a new species, Diospijros Mazeli^ 

 introduced into the South of France from Japan, which is worthy of 

 cultivation as an ornamental plant for the beauty and size of its 

 foliage and fruit, and also as a fruit-tree. He describes the fruit as 

 nearly globular, umbilicate at the apex, of a reddish orange colour 

 when fully ripe, and covered with a pruinose bloom ; its flesh is juicy, 

 sweet, and very pleasant, with a flavour like Apricots. From a botani- 

 cal point of view, there seems no reason to doubt but that this plant 

 should be regarded as one of the numerous varieties of D. Kaki, L.f., 

 obtained under cultivation, and not as a distinct species. 



Father Armand David, in his new book, " Journal de mon troi- 

 sieme voyage d'Exploration dans I'Empire Chinois," vol. i., p. 77, 

 makes some interesting remarks on the cultivated kinds of Kaki as 

 they are grown in China. 



It must not be omitted to notice a pharmacological thesis by G. 

 Charroppin, entitled, " Etude sur le Plaqueminier (Diospyros)," which 

 was published at Paris in the year 1873. In the course of this paper, 

 which relates to the economic and chemical as well as pharmaceutical 

 properties of the genus, he alludes, on page 19, to a plant named 

 Liospyros amara, Perrott. Cat. Pais., which he says is cultivated in 

 the French island of Bourbon, under the name of Chinese Quince ; 

 the fruits have the colour and size of an orange, and their flavour ap- 

 proaches that of a quince ; they are made into sweetmeats, and by 

 fermentation they produce a beverage, and alcohol can be extracted. 

 In the absence of a botanical description of this plant, I cannot feel 

 certain of it, but probably it is synonymous with D. Ehenaster, Retz., 

 and D. Zapata, Koxb., a species which has long been cultivated in 



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