370 LV. PLECTRONiACE.«. [Plectronicc 



There seems little doubt but that Linnreus had a specimen 

 of the genus under consideration when he described Plectronia 

 for the Mantissa (1767), for his description and the specimen in 

 his herbarium, subscribed in his own writing with the name 

 Plectronia ventosa, now at the Linnean Society, both establish this 

 view ; he, however, complicated the matter by quoting a plate 

 from Burmann of a plant in fruit which appears to belong to 

 Canthium in Rubiaceas, though he implied that he had not seen 

 the plant figured in Burmann. In this way some authors have 

 sunk the name of Canthium and substituted for it that of 

 Plectronia for the Rubiaceous genus, while Olinia of Thunberg 

 has been generally used for the triie Plectronia L. 



The structure has been fully discussed by Decaisne, " Sur les 

 caract^res et les affinites des Oliniees," in 1877; by Baillon, 

 " Nouvelles Observations des les Olinia" in 1878; and by Gilg 

 in Engler and Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam., in 1892. The number 

 oi species comprised in the genus is variously estimated as from 

 1 to 5 or 6. The most recent opinion agrees with sevei-al early 

 ones, that these plants constitute a distinct natural order, which 

 has been called Oliniacea? ; but if the name Olinia must be 

 discontinued for the genus, a corresponding change is obviously 

 suggested in the case of the Ordei\ 



LVI. PUNICACEiE. 

 1. PUNICA Tournef, L. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. p. 784. 



1. P. Granatum L. Sp. PI. edit. 1, p. 472 (1753); Welw. in 

 Journ. Linn. Soc. v. p. 184 (1861) ; Hiern in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. 

 ii. p. 486; Ficalho, PI. Uteis, p. 185 (1884). 



GoLUNGO Alto. — A small tree or large shrub, much branched, 8 to 

 12 feet high ; fruit of moderate size. Cultivated and spontaneous, but 

 not indigenous, in the old garden of the Italian missionaries at the 

 convent of Bango Aquitamba and in thickets ; fl. and young fr. 1 May 

 1856, called " Romeira " or " Ramanzeira." No. 2333. 



LVII. LYTHRACEiE. 



The Angolan Lythracese consist chiefly of low annual lierbs, 

 rather rare in the coast region up to 1000 feet of altitude and 

 little frequent in the mountainous region ranging from 1000 to 

 2400 feet, but abundant in the marshy lands and moist meadows 

 in the neighbourhood of the river Cuanza from Pungo Andongo to 

 Quisongo. Though the greater part of the species consist of plants 

 so small that with reason they might be considered as the pigmies of 

 the Angolan flora, yet some among them do not fail in elegance, 

 and others are remarkable for the red or crimson colour with 

 which their stems, leaves and calyxes at the time of fructification 

 are tinged ; and when seen from afar they i-esemble purple carpets 

 spread over the green meadows. See Welwitsch, Apontamentos, 

 p. 5'69, n. 168. 



