Sterculia'] xxiv. STERCULiACEiE. 83 



trunk already branched a little above the base ; branches as well as 

 the trunk of a leaden-grey colour ; flowers red-greenish ; on the island 

 Cazanga, fl. March 1858 ; native name " Chixe." From the same tree 

 Welwitsch had gathered a great quantity of gum tragacanth. No. 4692. 

 Island of Loanda ; 1858 ; native name " Muchiche " ; carpels 2 to 2^ in. 

 long, tawny-tomentose and scattered with rigid hairs outside ; seeds 

 ellipsoidal, J in. long by \ in. thick. Coll. Carp. 275, 280. 



Gum tragacanth or " Alquitiri" is obtained in abundance from 

 the thick trunk of this tree, which is very abundant in dry 

 situations throughout the coast region from Ambriz to the mouth 

 of the river Cuanza. The natives call the tree "Chixe," and the 

 gum ''Ici ia Chixe," but they do not make any use of it except 

 for food in time of great famine. It appears identical in quality 

 with the gum Alquitiri of the East, and can be collected in known 

 places in great quantity. (See Welwitsch, Synopse, p. 36.) 



GOLUNGO Alto and Zenza do Golungo. — Leaves fallen from a 

 tree then entirely leafless, but evidently belonging to it ; between 

 Calolo and Montes de Mongollo ; a common tree, with bark of a grey- 

 green almost leaden colour, Sept. 1857. A very lofty tree in the 

 forests near Muria, and in hilly situations near Calumguembo a tree 

 of 15 to 25 ft., always with a bark of a leaden colour ; Sept. 1857. 

 Coll. Carp. 277. 



3. S. cinerea A. Pdch. Tent. Fl. Abyss, i. p. 74, t. 16 (1847); 

 Masters, I.e., p. 218. 



Cazengo. — A moderate-sized tree, 25 to 30 ft. high ; trunk 1| to 

 2 ft. in diameter at the base, exuding a gummy resin, clothed as well 

 as the patently divaricate branches with a whitish bark (like that 

 in Betula alba) ; flowers from yellow turning reddish ; capsules of a 

 pleasant ruddy colour (seeds albuminous) ; in shallow depressions on 

 plains between Muxaula and Cacula ; fl. and fr. June 1855. No. 4694. 



The specimens differ from the type by the lower surface of the 

 leaves being clothed with a short pale-tawny tomentum, but not ashy- 

 tomentose. The male flowers have their anthers crowded in a head, 

 not disposed in a single row. This form helps to break down the 

 distinction between S. tomentosa G. & P. and S. cinerea A. Rich. 



4. S. ambacensis Welw. ms. in Herb. 



A moderate-sized tree 15 to 30 ft. high, with the habit nearly 

 of Monodoi^a Myristica ; trunk about a foot in diameter near the 

 base; crown handsomely widened out, with spreading branches. 

 Leaves obovate, rounded or nearly so at the apex, more or less 

 narrowed to a wedge-shaped obtuse or rounded base, glabrous 

 (or with scattered minute stellate hairs beneath, especially when 

 young), glaucous especially above, firmly but rather thinly 

 coriaceous, 5 to 9 in. long, 2| to 5^ in. wide, 1 -nerved at the base 

 (or 3 to 5-nerved near the base) ; petiole | to 2 in. long, glabrate, 

 of an ashy-purple colour ; stipules deciduous. Flowers not seen. 

 Follicles nearly 3 in. long, IJ in. wide, of a yellowish-cinnamon 

 colour, outside very thinly tomentose and frequently beset with 

 little gummy drops ; seeds 5 to 7 in each follicle, oblong- cylindrical. 

 I in. long, very copious, albuminous. Fruit and seeds like those 

 of "Quibondo." 



