Liberia <•- 



capillary pedicels and arranged in racemes or often very long 

 loose panicles ; Monrovia, IV/ij'te ! 



APOCYNACE^ 



Landolphia florida, Bent/i. {syn. L. comorensis var. florida, K. Schum.) : 

 a very tall powerful climber with flagelliform tendrils, more or 

 less elliptic obtuse or shortly acuminate glabrous leaves (3—7 in. 

 by 3 in.), terminal many-flowered corymbs of fragrant showy 

 white flowers with a yellow centre, and globose yellow fruits 

 up to 4 in. in diameter ; Murphytown and Batombatown, 

 IVAj/e (from drawings). — The latex of this liane, which is common 

 throughout Tropical Africa, is worthless ; but it is frequently 

 used by the natives as an admixture to better kinds. The pulp 

 of the fruit is edible and of a pleasant acid taste. 

 L, owariensis, Beauv. (Plate 250) : a climbing shrub attaining some- 

 times considerable dimensions with long hook-branched tendrils, 

 more or less oblong acuminate or almost obtuse leaves (3 — 6 

 jn_ by I — J in.), many-flowered brownish-tomentose cymes, 

 often arranged in panicles, small white flowers which soon turn 

 brown, and wrinkled or irregularly grooved globose fruits, 

 yellow mottled with red, up to 2\ in. in diameter ; Greenville, 

 near the Sino River, Sim and lV/ij'fe\—This is one of the 

 principal sources of West African rubber, and probably the 

 most valuable rubber liane. 

 L. spec, (i) : a robust climber with rather stout compressible 

 glabrous shoots, elliptic to oblong or sub-acuminate leaves 

 which are rounded or cordate at the base (5 — 6 in. by 2| — 4^ 

 in.) and glabrous, and possess about 5 very oblique nerves 

 which are connected by bold arches near the margin ; they 

 are borne on short stout petioles which are connected across 

 the stem by a prominent ridge. The flowers are unknown. 

 The fruits, according to a drawing by Whyte, are borne on 

 short stout pedicels in panicles which are partly transformed 

 into tendrils ; they are ellipsoid globose, 3 in. by 2j in., yellow 

 and smooth, and contain about a dozen seeds ; Sino, near the 

 coast, IV/iy/el; Greenville, Sim, 31 ! — This yields, according to 

 the collectors, excellent rubber. 

 L. spec. (2) : a climber, known only from a drawing and notes by 



61^ 



