Liberia '^ 



quantities, and sold at Liverpool under the name of " kombo " 

 or " kafa." 



The Liberian forests are very rich in Fig trees, as may 

 be seen by the list of species in the Appendix, and some of 

 these yield rubber of more or less good quality. 



Amongst the Monocotyledons there is much to remark. 

 When the orchids of Liberia have been carefully collected, it 

 will be found that this order is well represented by epiphytic ' 

 species as well as terrestrial. Mr. Whyte in his reports draws 

 attention to " a most magnificent terrestrial orchid, Lissochilus 

 roseus" apparently a near relation of the equally splendid L. 

 giganteus of the Cameroons and Congo. This Lissochilus roseus 

 grows to as much as seven feet in height, with spear-shaped 

 leaves nearly three feet long, and a flower-stalk with perhaps 

 thirty inches of inflorescence. The flovVers are nearly an 

 inch in length, and a ]>eautiful rose-pink set in reddish brown 

 sepals. 



I have also seen in the forests at the back of Grand 

 Basa an extraordinary looking orchis, which is represented on 

 p. 543 by one of my drawings, though no dried specimen has as 

 yet been sent home from Liberia. This epiphytic orchis is 

 known as Listrostachys caudata, and its range in West Africa 

 is apparently from Sierra Leone on the west to the Niger 

 Delta on the east. The illustration is about one-third natural 

 size. The large central petal at the back is white, and the 

 remaining parts of the flower are green or greenish yellow. 

 This orchis has a very long nectary. The leaves are thick 

 and fleshy. It is a beautiful object, as its flower racemes hang 



' Epiphytic means, of course, " growing upon other trees or plants." Orchids 

 are either terrestrial and grow with roots and bulbs in the soil, or they are of 

 epiphytic habit, and attach themselves by innumerable finger-like roots to the 

 trunks and limbs of trees. 



544 



