Eiq)horbia] cxv. euphorbiace^. 945 



and our specimens, consisting only of foliage, are insufficient for 

 certain determination ; they should also be compared with E. Teke 

 Schweinf. ex Pax in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. xix. p. 118 (1894). 



The following No., which is without flowers, should be compared 

 with this species, though it is apparently distinct ; the prickles are 

 straight, in pairs, distinct at the base, diverging, -^^ to i in. long ; 

 and the leaves are obovate and entire, and measure ^3^ to 4 in. long 

 by If to 2 in. broad; it is referred to by Welwitsch, Apontam. 

 p. 564 under n. 153 ; it should also be compared with a specimen 

 in the Kew herbarium, collected near Eegent by G. F. Scott 

 Elliot, Sierra Leone Boundary Commission, n. 4112 : — 



PuNGO Andongo.— A small tree, 10 to 12 ft, high, a beautiful 

 plant resembling E. neriifoUa L. ; trunk 3 to 4 in. in diameter, divided 

 at the top into crowded ascending or spreading branches, which are 

 angular, thick and leafy towards the apex ; leaves obovate-Hngulate, 

 fleshy, glaucescent. In small open woods, on a sandy soil, at the bank 

 of the river Cuanza, near Candumba, rather rare ; without fl. March 

 1857. No. 644. 



12. E. opuntioides Welw. ms. in herb. 



Shrubby, glabrous or nearly so; stem low, branched at the 

 base ; branches ascending or decumbent, fleshy-woody, flattened- 

 compressed, articulate, glaucous-green, about 6 in. long, leafless, 

 remarkably resembling an Opimtia, f to 4 in. broad at the con- 

 strictions; joints 1 to 1^ in. broad and long, sub-circular or 

 broadly obovate in general outline, undulate, coarsely crenate 

 or repand on the darker sparingly spiny margin ; spines rather 

 slender, dusky, seated at the apex of the undulations or crenations, 

 usually in pairs, distinct at the base, erect or diverging, straight 

 or a little curved, deciduous, |- to J in. long ; cymes short, inserted 

 in the shallow depressions at the apex of the subtruncate terminal 

 joint of the branches, erect, 3- to 1-headed; common peduncle 

 thick, |- to J in. long, with two opposite broadly ovate obtuse 

 or rounded bracts at the apex, secondary peduncles thick, the 

 lateral ones | to ^ in. long divergent, the middle one shorter ; 

 middle involucre sub-hemispherical, somewhat compressed, i in. 

 broad, bibracteate at the base ; lateral involucres rather smaller, 

 about J in. broad ; the bracts broadly ovate or semicircular, nearly 

 equalling the involucre in height, concave, adpressed ; lobes of 

 the involucre short, fringed at the apex; glands very short, 

 broad, crenulate on the margin ; bracteoles among the filaments 

 fringed at the apex ; pistil sessile or very nearly so, glabrous ; 

 styles united one-third way up from the base, diverging above, 

 shortly cleft at the apex ; ripe carpels about i in. long ; seeds 

 J in. long, smooth. 



PuNGO Andongo. — By rocks in black sandy schist, close to the 

 banks of thet river Cuanza, near Candumba, not uncommon but rather 

 sparse; fl. and fr. Jan. to March 1857. No. 638. 



13. E. bellica Hiern, sp. n. 



A robust, green-glaucous, spiny, glabrous, leafless, succulent 

 shrub, 3 to 5 ft. high, copiously milky, affording resin ; trunk a 



61 



