63 



PLATE 77. 



COMBRETUM (Poivrea bracteosa, Hochst). 

 Natural Order, COMBRETAOE^I. 



An upright branching shrub 6 to 10 feet high. Twigs terete, gray, glabrous, 

 younger ones green, pubescent. Leaves oppo>ite, ternate, or subopposite, 

 petiolate, exstipulate, ovate or ovate-oblong, tapering to both ends, mucronulate at 

 apex, obtuse at base; margin entire, a little recurved, veins and veinlets prominent 

 beneath, plainly visible above ; quite glabrous, except for minute tufts of hairs in 

 angles of veins beneath, dull above, shining beneath ; 2J to 3 inches long, 1 to 1-J 

 inches wide ; petioles 3 lines long. Inflorescence in short, densely flowered axillary 

 and terminal racemes, which are 1 to 2 inches long. Calyx gamosepalous, tube 

 constricted above the ovary, and 5-ribbed, then suddenly expanding, limb campa- 

 nulate, 5-cleft half way down, lobes deltoid, acute, dull red, pubescent on both 

 surfaces, glandular within, tube green, pubescent on outer surface, glabrous within, 

 throat closed by a ring of white hairs ; the whole calyx including ovary 6 lines 

 long ; bracts leaf like, stalked, oblong, acute at apex, obtuse at base, veiny ; 3 to 4 

 lines long. Petals 5, inserted on calyx tube just below sinuses and alternate with 

 lobes, clawed, ovate, veiny, pubescent, ciliate with long hairs, scarlet; 4 lines long, 

 2 to 21 lines wide. Stamens 10, in two rows, exserted, 5 inserted with the petals, 

 and 5 below and opposite to them, the calyx tube being a little swollen and form- 

 ing a ring at point of junction of each filament. Filaments filiform, scarlet, terete. 

 Anthers 2 celled, dorsally affixed. Style 1 , scarlet, stigma minute, obtuse. Ovary 

 1 celled, 2 ovuled, pubescent. Fruit ovate, or globose, 1 seeded by abortion, light 

 coloured and glabrous. 



Habitat : NATAL : Coast districts near the sea. 



Drawn and described from specimens gathered near Durban, October, 1 898. 



A handsome shrub well worth cultivation, its bright scarlet flowers, being 

 very conspicuous during the months of September and October. We have not 

 met with it more than two, or at most three miles from the sea coast. The fruit is 

 known locally as " Hiccup Nut " and is palatable, but usually produces violent 

 hiccough. 



The genus Combretum with which Poivrea is now incorporated contains about 

 1 20 species widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions ; we have in 

 Natal 8 species, the one here described being the only one in which the fruit is 

 nut winged. 



Fig. 1 , Branch with leaves and flowers, natural size ; 2, Flower and hract ; 3, 

 Section of flower ; 4, Section of bud showing position of stamens ; 5, Stamens, 

 front and side view; 6. Stigma; 7, Section of ovary; all enlarged. 



PLATE 78. 



POUTULACARIA AFRA, Jacq. 



Natural Order, PORTCIACEJE. 



A shrub reaching to 12 feet in height, and much branched. Branches and 

 twigs opposite, decussate. Wood soft. Bark brown, glabrous, 

 swollen and compressed at nodes. Leaves opposite, sessile, exstipulate, broadly 

 ovate or sub-rotund, entire, mucronate, thick and fleshy, veins indistinct ; | t 



