Plate 2301. 



POLYGALA BUTYRACEA, HeckeL 



POLYGALACEiE. 



1889 : ' Les 



P. but3rracea, Heck, in BulL ISoc. Ueogr. JlarsetUe, 

 Vegetaux iitiles de VAfriqiie trojJicaJe -/ frutex pluripedaiis caulibus 

 eloiigatis virgatis hirto-pilosulis, foliis elongato-linearibus apice atte- 

 miatls liirtis costa subtus prominente, racomis terminalibus elongatis 

 multifloris basi srepe ramos 1-2 erectos emittentibus, bracteis persisten- 

 tibus ovatis acuminatis recurvis, bracteolis geininatis erectis lanceolatis 

 oblont^isve quam bractea brevioribus, pedicellis recurvis bractea paullo 

 longioribus, sepalis anticis liberis late ellipticis obtusis concavis, sepalo 

 postico majore cymbiformi apice dorsallter minute apiculato, alls ovato- 

 V, obovato-ellipticis obtusis integris reticulato-venosis, corollas carina 

 fimbriato-cristata, petalis posticis carina paullo brevioribus apice obliquo 

 obtusis V. obtusiusculis, ovario obovato-elliptico apice retuso glabro, 

 styli marginibus integris, capsula elliptica emarginata angustissinie 

 marginata, seminibus oblongis compressiusculis apicem basinque versus 

 parce albido-pilosulis. P. oleifera, Trettb in Yersl's Lands Planten- 

 tuin, 1868, 16 (without description). 



Hab. W. Tropical Africa ; Sierra Leone, or the interior from 

 thence, Hart, Scott'ElUof (No. 4072, cultivated near Kitchom) ; culti- 

 vated, S. Leone and indigenous in the Timn^ and Koranko country, 

 Jide Heckel (/.c). 



Professor Heckel, to whom we are indebted for a specimen enabling 

 us to identify his plant with other examples in the Kew Herbarium, 

 all received since the publication of the first volume of the^' Flora of 

 Tropical Africa/ was the first to describe and call attention, in the memoir 

 cited above, to the economic value of this plant as aff^ording in its seeds on 

 pressure a fatty matter ' of excellent quality and of very agreeable 

 taste/ Professor Heckel says {Ic.) that the only PoJygala described at 

 the date of his publication ' qui reponde de loin ' to his plant is P. 

 rarifolia, D.C. But this species belongs, as shown in the 'Flora^of 

 Tropical Africa,' i. 126, 132, to a different section of the genus in which 

 the anterior sepals are connate. The species most nearly allied to it 



the plant 



m 



9 



long if t 



species, a plant which I observe M. Choclat, m his fine Monographia 

 Polygalacearum ' (Geneve, 1893), regards as a distinct species which 

 he calls r Baikipsi. Pr.jfessor Heckel gives the indigenous name of 

 P. hutyracea as Maloulmng or AoiMaki. Mr. Scott- Elliot calls it Meek 

 lieni-seed. For a detailed account, and analysis, of the butter 

 afforded by the seeds, see Professor Heckel's memoir, which I only 

 know as a^sepurate issue, extracted from the ' Bulletin of the Geogr. 

 Society of Marseilles.'— D. Oliver. 



Fig. 1. Latcr<J view of flower. 2. Same, sepals removed. 3. Seed. 4. Pistil. 



Alf mJnrgcd. 



SERIES IV. VOL. IV. I'AKT I. 



