Liberia <*- 



close to the stalk. I did not succeed in developing photographs 

 taken of these very handsome shrubs, so I give on p. 532 as some 

 indication of what they are like, a drawing done by me from 

 an allied species, Barteria nigritiana. 1 believe that this shrub 

 extends in its range to the eastern part of Liberia, but the 

 drawing which is here given was made by me from examples 

 of Barteria picked at Lagos. I think, however, it will be 

 found to grow in the vicinity of Cape Palmas. 



A very common object in the bush round the Liberiaii 

 towns at the present day is the papaw tree (Carica), which 

 although a native of America has now become well established 

 in Liberia, as it has throughout Tropical Africa. It yields an 

 excellent fruit, which can be eaten cooked as a vegetable, or 

 ripe as a very good imitation of a hothouse melon. The sap 

 or juice of the papaw is a digestive, and the leaves are used 

 to wrap up meat in order to make it tender. The male and 

 female flowers are white, and deliciously scented. The male flower 

 is smaller than the female and on longer stalks. This species is 

 "dioecious " — that is to say, each individual plant is either male 

 or female — single-sexed. I have noticed, however, not only in 

 Central Africa but also in Liberia, that the male flowers of 

 this plant develop the extraordinary habit of producing fruits 

 (apparently seedless). These grow as a long, pendulous drupe, 

 quite difl^erent in shape from the melon-like fruit of the female, 

 which of course is full of seeds. 



The Madder family (^Rubiacea;) is abundantly represented in 

 the West African flora ; and amongst its many trees, shrubs, 

 and herbs of remarkable aspect are those of the genus Muss,tnda. 

 A form of Mussanda with white sepals and tubular orange 

 flowers is common throughout Liberia, as indeed elsewhere 

 in forested West Africa. It is a most striking object in the 

 bush. The Liberian type is probably Muss^enda conopharyngiifolia. 



536 



