Fes, 1906.] | FLORA OF PORTUGUESE HAST AFRICA, 173 
swampy ground; the bark of the stems produces strong 
rough fibre which I have utilised for ropes. Gossypium 
anomalum and G. herbacewm are both found about the 
borders of the forest and abandoned lands. The cotton is 
collected by the natives, but is of short staple and not much 
commercial value. Last year and since, the small growers 
that have taken up cotton cultivation in the territory have 
employed the natives to collect the staple, and have mixed 
it with the Egyptian species they have been growing, thus 
destroying their good sample.. Many parcels I have seen 
brought in to the dealers this season. Adansonia digitata, 
the most remarkable tree on the coast, generally found 
singly growing on the highest points of land, and clearly 
observed by steamboat travellers. It is an ugly, flat-topped, 
blunt-branched tree, and eight months of the year leafless. 
Known as the Baobab, or “ Cream of Tartar” tree, as the 
pulp surrounding the seeds is a pleasant acid, and is used in 
a cooling drink. I have measured many trees having a 
girth of eighty feet; wood soft and worthless. A photograph 
is given of the tree in one of our cotton plantations. 
STERCULIACER.— Dombeya multiflora: 1 think this is the 
only species of this small tree I have observed; some of the 
forms are very handsome. Hermannia filipes, an annual, 
not uncommon. Maherna sp.: there are, as far as I can 
observe, several species not yet enumerated. Wailtheria 
americana, a common weed. 
TILIACEA.— Grewia columnaris and G. caffra are both 
common shrubs. Grewia occidentalis and G. pilosa are two 
common small trees found in the open scrub and waste 
lands. Triwmfetta pilosa and T. rhomboidea, both common 
shrubby plants. 7riwmfetta tomentosa, imtroduced from 
India, is found growing near habitations. Corchorus olitorvus 
and O. acutangulus, found in open and semi-cultivated land. 
LInEa&.— Lrythroxylon emarginatum appears general in the 
coast country. 
MALPIGHIACEa.— Acridocarpus natalitius, a climbing shrub, 
not uncommon in the low country. 
ZYGOPHYLLEH.— Tribulus terresiris, a spreading annual, 
very common. 
GERANIACEA.—Donsonia biflora, an annual herb, common 
in certain localities. Geraniwm ornithopodium is the only 
