ICONES PLANTARUM. 79 
PLATE 1098: 
STROPHANTHUS KOMBE, Oliv. 
APOCYNACES. 
- Kombe, Oliv. sp. nov.—Arbuscula v. frutex eunteas ramulis 
crassis scabris novellis hirsutis, foliis brevissime petiolatis late ellipticis ob- 
tusis apiculatis junioribus supra breviter hirsuto-scabridis subtus hirsuto- 
tomentosis, cymis paucifloris terminalibus hirsutis, bracteis lineari-lanceolatis 
saduries lobis calycinis linearibus acuminatis corolle tubo brevioribus 
Has. South tropical agit Zambesi-land. ‘“ Various places between the 
coast sna the centre of the continent above the Victoria Falls,” Dr. Kirk. 
Flowering in October and Roveseber sn ngan ja Hills, 2000 ft., 1861, Dr. 
Meller!’ Kombe Arrow-poison of the nat 
Our flowering specimens, although not i that could be wished, I think 
justify the separation of this plant from Strophanthus hispidus, DC., of West 
tropical Africa, one of the Arrow-poisons of Nigritania. 8. Ko ers in 
the few-flowered inflorescence and the narrower (linear not nacrad arin and 
shorter au eo eer sag not reach to the narrow sinuses of the throat of 
he corolla as i ispi 
The firmer teetinrs of the “calyx and bracts, and the early fall ‘of the latter, 
appear additional minor distinctions. ‘The follicles entirely correspond in 
the two species. The physiological ‘action of the Kombe poison, obtained 
from the seeds, has been investigated by Dr. Thomas R. Fraser, who includes 
it in the class of cardiac poisons. (Vide Proc. Royal Soc. Edinb., 1860-70, 
p- 99.) 
Dr. Meller describes the Kombe . a.” tree of 15 feet growing on rocks ;’ ; 
Dr. Kirk, (in Dr. Fraser’s Memoir, | — a woody climber growing in 
the forest, both of the valleys and hi 
Extremities the thickness of a seat “quill, often being scabrous from the 
persistent indurated tuberculate bases of the coarse deciduous hairs which 
clothe the annual leafy shoots ; ; much ee = the nodes. Leaves 
perhaps hardly fully developed in our specime 1-31 in. long, 2-23 in. 
broad, coarsely scabrid-hirsute above, thickly ie beneath with a paler 
coarse tome nae gine ap equalling or shorter than the calyx. 
—— lobes 4-4 in. long, —} in. broad, glabrescent within, below hirsute 
externally, subcori i cena from the base. Corolla paborniens or 
subhirsute below externally ; lobes Sane brittle when dry, probab ly i, 
Ovary bifid, densely hirsute. Fodlicles 3-1 ft. long, or rather longer, gla- 
brate, dark brown and longitudinally siriate when dry, n a above in 
a stout oe terminating in a subpeltate disk % in. in diameter.— 
OLIVER 
Fig. 1. —— ae open, the attenuated lobes removed. 2. Stamen, front and side 
view. 3. Pist . Portion of reduced follicle. 
ine 
