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Plate 2465. 



PENTADESMA BUTYBACEA, Don. 



GuTTiFER^. Tribe Moronobe.e. 



+ 



P. butyracea, Don, Gen, Si/sL L 619; foliis coriaceis nltentibus 

 petiolatis oblongo-ellipticis oblongis v, oblanceolatis breviter acuminatis 

 V. obtusiusculis, venis primariis numerosis parallelis, floribus amplis 

 speciosis ad apices ramulorura (3-5-7} aggregatis, pedicellis validis 

 saspius decurvis, sepalis 5 coriaceis 2 exterioribus brevioril>us ovatis 3 

 interioribus petaJa a^quantibus ellipticis, petalis oblique obovatis basin 

 versus incrassatisj staminibus indefinitis 6-adelphis, tilamentis iiiox 

 liberis gracilibus, superne in connectivo leviter iucrassatis, antlieris 

 adnatis 2-locularibus elongatis loculis angustissimis, ovario ovoideo in 

 stylum validum sequilongutn apice 5-lobatum angustato, ovulis in 

 loculo plurimis superpositis, baccis magiiis corticosis ovoideis oligo- v* 

 polyspermis. — Oliver, FL Trap. Afr, i. 164. 



Hab. W. Tropical Africa : Sierra Leone, southward to the equator, 



various collectors. 



Arbor 30-70 pedalis, glaberrinia. Folia 5-8 poll. longa v. in ramia 

 sterilibus 10-12 poll longa, 1|-2| poll, lata ; petiolus 3-9 lin, longua. 

 Flares 3-4 poll. diam. ; sepala exteriora 1]-1| poll, longa; petah 

 2 poll, longa ; stamina petala fequantia ; ovarium 9 lin. longum. 

 Bacca ad 6-polL longa, 4-5 polL diarn. 



This is the * Butter and Tallow ' tree of Sabine's paper on the ' Edible 

 Fruits of Sierra Leone,' in the Tra7isactio7is of tJiC IJorticultural Society, 

 V. (1824), 457; the 'Kanya' of Prof. E. Hcckel in his monograph, 

 Les Kolas Africains ; and the * Kamoot ' tree of the Rev, J. A, Cole, 

 •whose excellent specimens in flower, received from the Colonial Secre- 

 tary of Sierra Leone, are just to hand, and which, with previous 

 material, enable us to give a satisfactory figure of the plant in flower. 

 At the time T described the Guttiferte for the Flora of Tropical Africa 

 our material as to the flowers and inflorescence was very imperfect, 

 and, quoting a previous writer, I described, in inverted commas, the 

 flowers as terminal, solitary.' The fruit, on a reduced scale, a seed 

 and leaf, with some microscopical sections of tissues, are figured bv 

 Heckel {Lc). The seeds vary in form considerably from mutual 

 pressure as well as in number ; indeed, from one or two to an indefinite 

 number ; the ovules are, of course, numerous. Tlie fatty matter con- 

 tained in the seeds affords the vegetable ' Butter,* beurre de Kanya 

 of Heckel.— D. Oliver. 



FJg. 1. Stamens. 2. Vertical section of pistil and lower part of andrcecium. 3 

 and 4. Sections of the ovary at different levels, the latter the higher, 6, Seeds. 

 All €X<:rj>t 5 enlarged. 



