Liberia '•' 



a single petal. In the Verbena order there are two noticeable 

 species of Clerodendron, one — C. splendens — a low tree with 

 splendid bunches of bright red tubular flowers and very project- 

 ing stamens. The other, C. scandens, is more shrub-like, and has 

 sprays of white flowers with a red centre. In another member 

 of this order — Vitex grandifoUa (a low tree) — the fruits are plum- 

 like, with a sweetish pulp. They are eaten by the natives, 

 and are also used by the Liberians to make a fermented drink, 

 which is said to taste like rum. The timber of Avicennia 

 africana is likely to be of value in commerce. This grows 

 to a considerable height, generally in the brackish marshes 

 along the coast. Another verbenaceous plant most prominent 

 in the vicinity of the coast settlements between Sierra Leone 

 and the Ivory Coast is honoured by botanists with a terrific 

 name — Stachytarpheta indica ! No one who has landed at 

 Sierra Leone or at Monrovia can fail to have noticed this 

 common herb, which blooms all the year round with sprays 

 of rather pretty blue flowers, not unlike the flowers of verbenas 

 cultivated in our gardens. The leaves of this plant are used 

 to make a decoction in native medicines said to be useful 

 as a febrifuge. This plant is a common weed throughout the 

 tropics, but the present writer has never noticed it growing so 

 abundantly as in the coast region of Liberia. 



The extraordinary Aristolochia is not uncommonly met 

 with in the bush, at a short distance from the sea-coast. My 

 drawing given on p. 539 is done from a specimen not yet 

 fully open. Mr. Gow records this plant as being common 

 in the region of the Dukwia River. The illustration is 

 about two-thirds natural size. Amongst the Myristacea there 

 is a species of Pycnanthus, a tallish tree— probably Pycnanthus 

 kombo — which produces extremely oily seeds. These are appar- 

 ently the oil seeds that are exported from Liberia in considerable 



542 



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