320 XLV. ROSACEA. [Pa7nna7'i 



the apex, witli a dilated crown ; foliage with somewhat the habit of 

 Castanea satica Mill., but with a poorer and drier aspect. Flowers not 

 seen. Fruit of the size of a small hen's egg, at first very hard, softening 

 at last, edible. In elevated rocky places among the mountains of the 

 fortified region of Pungo Andongo, at a spot called Pedra de Cazella ; 

 with leaves without fl. Dec. 1856 and May 1857. Native name " Nichia." 

 No. 1287. 



. 2. P. Mobola Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. ii. p. 368 {Parinarium) ; Hook 

 f. Kep. Kew, 1877, p. 35 (1878) ; Ficalho, PI. Uteis, p. 178 (1884). 

 Ferolia Mohola O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. i. p. 216 (1891). 



Pungo Andongo. — A tree, 15 to 25 ft. high, with rather lax crown, 

 divaricate tortuous branches, and edible fruit. In the more elevated 

 and open rocky mountainous parts of the fortified region of Pungo 

 Andongo, between Cazella and Caghuy, sparingly ; in young fr. Jan. 

 1857. No. 1288. 



HuiLLA. — A very handsome tree, 20 to 40 ft. high, variable in stature 

 and height according to the quality of the soil and degree of exposure ; 

 trunk 1 to 5 rarely 'dh to 4 ft. in diam. at the base, dichotomously and 

 tortuously branched at .3 to 5 ft. above the base ; crown dilated, 

 depressed-hemispherical, 60 to 100 ft. in diam. in the case of trees with 

 a trunk of 3 ft. in diam. ; leaves coriaceous, evergreen, very rigid ; 

 petiole thick, short, fleshy, articulated with the branchlet ; flowers 

 whitish ; fruit edible, very agreeable, vinous-farinaceous, pulpy, as if 

 made up of honey and meal, drupaceous, 2-seeded, ferruginous-brown 

 outside, furfuraceous-rough, of the size of a hen's egg more or less, 

 elliptic-obovoid or -clavate ; seeds loosely wrapped in tawny wool ; 

 sarcocarp small in quantity in proportion to the size of the seeds. 

 Abundant and forming extensive forests together with species of Protea 

 and Myrtacese, throughout the more elevated (5,000 to 5,500 ft.) 

 mountainous parts of Morro de Lopollo ; fl. Oct. 1859 ; the fruits begin 

 to ripen in the middle of October and last nearly to the end of January, 

 some trees even supply palatable fruit in February. Native name 

 " Nocha " (Noscha) or " Noxa." No. 1282 and Coll. Carp. 1. 



This tree constitutes one of the principal elements of the extensive 

 and varied forests of the high plateau of Huilla, being without question 

 one of the most handsome and useful trees of all the Huilla district ; 

 it rises to the height of 25 to 40 ft. and more, with a diam. of 2 to 3| ft. 

 in its trunk at the base, and affects nourishing and sandy soils, especially 

 along streams ; its crown is broad and its ramification quasi-horizontal, 

 and its foliage is evergreen, dense, and, on account of the deep green 

 colour of its leaves above and snow-white beneath, of extraordinary 

 effect. The wood of the Noxa is generally employed in Huilla for the 

 manufacture of furniture and other domestic utensils, and when pro- 

 perly seasoned furnishes good boarding. But what is most advantageous 

 in this tree is its fruit, since at the time of its ripening a large propor- 

 tion of the native population are sustained almost exclusively on Noxas, 

 and so great is the abundance of these fruits in the neighbourhood of 

 the provinces of Lopollo and Humpata that the natives offer large 

 l)askets of them to the European colonists at the price of 25 to 

 100 milreis {l\d. to bd.) for a hundred fruits ; the fruits are of the size 

 of a small peach, containing the bulky stone wrapped in a farinaceous- 

 pulpy mass, sweet and of a very agreeable aroma. (See Welwitsch, 

 Syiiopse, p. 18, n. 43.) 



The Nocha is the most abundant and appreciated wild fruit in the 

 whole of the district of Huilla ; it is a large treo, evergreen and of 



