136 XXXIV. MELiACE^. [E ntaiulroj^Jircigma 



branches patent elongated. Flowers small, paniculate, pentamerous, 

 white ; petals erect, sinistrorsely convolute in aestivation (as seen from 

 above) ; staminal tube obtusely crenate-lobed ; anthers exserted ; disk 

 obsolete. Capsule pendulous when ripe, oblong- cylindrical, obtusely 

 pentagonal, 6 to 8 in. long by 1 to 2 in. thick in the middle, attenuated 

 at both ends, pyramidal at the apex, 5-celled, septifragally 5-valved 

 from the base ; valves bi-lamellate with adhering laminse or uni-lamellate, 

 exposing the septiferous acutely pentagonal seminiferous axis, hard- 

 woody, cohering at the vertex, deciduous in the form of a calyptra, then 

 separately arching outwards ; seeds 20 to 30, that is, 4 to G pendulous 

 on each face of the placenta, with long wings ; wings lanceolate, 

 obtuse; nucleus nearly square. Native name "Quibaba" of Queta. 

 In the primitive forests of the mountains of Serra de Queta Central, 

 chiefly adorning damp depressions near streams ; fl. in Jan. and Feb., 

 with ripe fr. at the beginning of August 1856. No. 1313. At about 

 2000ft. alt. Fr. August 1856. Coll. Carp. 311. Bark "Quibaba 

 quina." Coll. Carp, 319. This gigantic tree grows to a height of 

 140 ft., with a trunk more than 30 ft. in circumference ; and its timber 

 is in great repute for various domestic articles, furniture, etc., not only 

 on account of the satiny lustre and high polish which it takes, but also 

 for its durability and facility of working ; the bark contains a very 

 bitter principle, and furnishes a substitute for quinine well worth the 

 attention of pharmacists. Quibaba is derived from Quiba, which 

 means bark. (Welwitsch, Synopse, p. 11 n. 21, p. 31 n. 75.) 



XXXy. DICHAPETALACEiE. 



The species are shrubs or small trees belonging to the genus 

 Dichajoetalum, and are remarkable for the horizontal ramification 

 which prevails in nearly all of them ; they inhabit the dense and 

 moist primitive woods of the warmer and more sheltered situations, 

 constituting, together with Eubiaceae, AnonaceS, and Ferns, the 

 undergrowth of such woods ; most of them are climbers. The 

 circumstance that they rarely produce flowers, and still more 

 rarely mature their fruits, renders very difficult the exact defi- 

 nition of the species, the more so because the leaves of each species 

 vary considerably according to the age and circumstances of the 

 individual (Welwitsch, Apont. p. 563, n. 152). No species are 

 known to occur in either of the districts of Benguella, Mossamedes, 

 or Huilla. 



1. DICHAPETALUM Thou. Gen. Nov. Madag. p. 23 (1809). 



Chailletia DC (1811) ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. p. 341. 



1. D. subsessilifolium Chodat in Bull. Hb. Boiss. iii.p. 671 (1895). 



GoLUN(;o Alto. — A widely and extensively climbing slender ever- 

 green shrub ; stem tortuous ; branchlets diffuse, elongated, hirsute 

 with ferruginous spreading hispid hairs ; leaves obovate-elliptical, 

 acuminate, unequally cordate or nearly rounded at the base, papery - 

 coriaceous, glossy and glabrate or scattered with hairs especially along 

 the midrib and principal nerves above, paler and scattered with hairs 

 beneath, 3 to 5^ by 1 to 2^ in. ; petiole i\ to I in. long, hirsute ; 

 stipules setaceous-subulate, rather longer than the petiole, deciduous ; 

 flowers clustered in the axils of the leaves, sessile, white, several 

 together, \ in. long ; calyx half the length of the flower ; segments 5, 



