16 



PLATE 16. 



STEYCUNOS GERKARDI, N. E. Brown. 

 Natural Order LOGANIACEJE. 



A tree 30-40 feet high, without thorns. Bark grey, moderately thin and 

 even, twigs terete, opposite. Leaves opposite, petiolate. elliptical or oblong- 

 obovate, apex obtuse, base rounded and tapering into the short petiole entire, 

 glabrous, 3 veined, veins conspicuous on both sides, lateral ones joining 2-4 lines 

 above the base, dark green and shining above, lighter and duller beneath, petiole 

 1-8 lines long, lamina 1-4 inches long. Inflorescence in axillary cymes or fascicle*, 

 the branches 3-5, but usually 3 flowered, peduncles 1-2 lines long, pedicels -1$ 

 lines lung. Calyx of 4 oblong, obtuse sepals, ]-! lines long, with a sub-deltoid, 

 ciliolate bract at base. Corolla, garaopetalous, tube cylindrical, a little longer than 

 calyx, with a dense ring of white erect hairs in throat, glabrous externally, lobea 4, 

 ovate, acute, spreading, or a little recurved, 1-1]- lines long. Stamens 4, inserted 

 on corolla at throat, anthers oblong, 2 celled, sagittate, sub-sessile, and very 

 alightlv exserted. Ovary 2 celled, many seeded, pilose with long white hairs in 

 upper "half; style continuous with the ovary, obtuse; ovules attached to a thick 

 central placenta. Fruit a hard shelled, yellow, globose, berry, containing several 

 large seeds, which are covered with a sweetish pulp ; about 3 inches in diameter. 



Habitat : NATAL : Coast districts generally, common. 



Drawn and described from specimens gathered on Berea, December, 1897. 



This tree was formerly known in Natal as S. McKenii, but it does not appear 

 to have been described under that name, which was simply a manuscript one of 

 (terrard's. It was described in the Kew Bulletin for 1896 under the name above 

 giveu, which is therefore now the correct one. The genus Strychnos is a large one, 

 widely dispersed in the tropical regions of the world. We have in Natal three 

 named spocies, and one or two others which are not yet described. Generally 

 speaking the genus is a dangerous one ; the poison Strychnine being obtained from 

 a member of the genus, viz., S. nux-vomica. The fruits of the species here figured, 

 are. however, freely eaten by children and natives, the only part eaten being the 

 pulp in which the seeds are imbedded. The tree has a rather peculiar habit, the 

 secondary branches often growing upright from the primary ones, by which 

 feature the tree may often be recognised at a distance. So far as we know the 

 wood is not at all used for any economic purpose. 



Fig. 1 , Branch with flower and leaves ; 2, Flower, side view ; 3, Flower, full 

 view ; 4, Flower opened, showing stamens ; 5, Calyx, ovary and style ; 6, Section 

 of ovary ; 7, Stamen ; all variously enlarged. 



PLATE 17. 



DlOSCOEEA CHIN1TA, Hk. f. 



Natural Order DlOBCORlAC&K. 



A dioecious climber, Tubers several to each plant, often forked, or even 



Stems Blender, wide climbing, much branched, terete, finely pubescent. 



aves alternate palmate, lobes 5, shortly stalked, one or more of the lower ones 



.sionally divided, the divisions stalked or not; obovate, ovate or narrow oblong 



re, undulate, obtuse at base, Conspicuously inucronate, the muoro long and hair- 



both surfaces, shining, especially so beneath, veins conspicuous, 



