Macaranga] cxv. euphorbiace.e. 983 



spiny, as thick as a man's finger ; branches scattered, spinulose ; leaves 

 membranous ; petioles long, rosy purple. In the forest among the 

 mountains of Serra de Alto Queta, very rare i without fl. or fr. June 

 1856. No. 4486. 



31. RICINUS Tournef., L. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. ill. p. 321. 

 1. R. communis L. Sp. PI. edit. i. p. 1007 (1753); J. A. Schmidt, 



Fl. Cap Verd Ins. p. 307 (1852); Welw. Apontam. p. 564, sub 

 n. 153 (1859); Muell. arg. in DC. Prodr. xv. 2, p. 1017 (1866) ; 

 Ficalho, PI. Uteis, p. 258 (1884). 



Yar. megalospermus Muell. arg., I.e., p. 1017. 



b. pruinosus Muell. arg., I.e., p. 1017. 



MossAMEDES. — By the banks of the river Bengo, at Boca do Rio, in 

 gravelly places, very plentiful, forming little woods, 8 to 12 or rarely 

 15 ft. high ; fl. and fr. July 1859. No. 305- Seeds sent in 1861, 

 perhaps belonging to this form. Coll. Carp. 924. 



Var. benguelensis Muell. arg. in Journ. Bot. ii. p. 337 (1864), 

 and in DC, I.e., p. 1019. 



LoANDA AND MossAMEDES.— A bush, 6 to 8 ft. high, herbaceous 

 throughout ; nearly all parts of the plant, even the fruit and seeds, 

 spread with a very delicate glaucous powder : seeds half the size of 

 the typical form. Cultivated at Mossamedes near dwellings as a 

 medicinal plant and called " Baf ureira " (oil plant) ; the leaves are 

 applied to women's breasts to excite or increase the flow of milk ; 

 fl. and fr. beginning of Aug. 1859. In gardens near Loanda and also 

 ac Mossamedes as an introduction from the Cape de Verde Islands, 

 June 1860. No. 307- 



Cape de Verde Islands.— Island of S. Thiago ; seeds, Jan. 1861. 

 Coll. Carp. 923. 



Var. genuinus Muell. arg. in DC, I.e., p. 1019. 



e. macrophyllus Muell. arg. in DC., I.e., p. 1020. 



Loanda. — By fences in neglected fields and cultivated by villages, 

 everywhere ; at Boa Vista, fl. Aug. 1854, No, 306. 



GoLUNGO Alto. — An undershrub or very rarely a small tree. By 

 negro villages and in neglected plots of cultivation, everywhere, 

 perhaps native ; at Bango, fl. and young fr. Feb. 1855. The oil from 

 the seeds is extensively used by the negroes as a purgative. No. 304. 



32. PYCNOCOMA Benth. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PL iii. p. 326. 

 1. P. dentata Hiern, sp. n. 



A small or young tree, 10 to 12 ft. high, glabrate except the 

 tips and inflorescence ; branches pallid or ashy, subterete, divari- 

 cate, patent-ascending or variously bent, leafy towards and 

 especially at the rather thick apex ; leaves alternate, oblanceolate 

 or elliptic-oblong, rounded or more or less narrowed at the apex, 

 more or less wedgeshaped at the base, thinly and firmly coriaceous, 

 delicately penniveined and reticulate, entire except towards the 

 dentate-serrate upper part of the margins, 3 to 7 in. long by ^ to 

 2 in. broad, rather shining and nearly the same in colour on both 

 faces ; petioles |- to I in. long ; stipules caducous ; flowers dioecious ; 

 the male flowers crowded in compact cylindrical-oblong strobiliform 



