17 



PLATE 265. 



EUCLEA NATALENSIS, A. B.C. (Prodr. VIII., p. 218, n. 10, 1844). 

 Natural Order, EBENACEJS. 



A dioecious tree, 30 to 45 feet high, with a usually straight trunk. Bark dark 

 coloured, sometimes almost black. Leaves alternate or sometimes opposite, 

 narrowly elliptical, entire, coriaceous, undulate, thickened at margin, obtuse, re- 

 curved and with a sharp horny recurved mucro, tapering to base, glabrous, dark 

 green and shining above, lighter and dull beneath, midrib distinct on both surfaces, 

 prominent beneath ; 2 to 5 inches long, f to 2 inches wide ; petiole 6 to 9 lines 

 long. Inflorescence of male in short axillary panicles, 1 to 1^ inch long, pubescent; 

 flowers yellow. Calyx widely campanulate, 45 fid, teeth deltoid, erect, acute ; 1 

 line long. Corolla 4-5 lobed, lobes broadly ovate, twice longer than calyx, twisted 

 in aestivation. Stamens (in our specimens) 15-20, usually in pairs, erect, filaments 

 short, anthers sagittate, acute at apex, silky ; ovary rudimentary. Female in- 

 florescence similar to male, but racemes usually fewer flowered, and flowers with- 

 out stamens. Ovary silky, styles 2, short, 2-lobed. Fruit a 1-seeded berry, 4-5 

 lines in diameter, red when ripe. 



Habitat : NATAL : Coast forests to Drakensberg ; Groenberg, 2,000 feet alt, 

 July, Wood No. 953 ; near Durban, 150 feet alt, August Wood No. 8284. 



The genus Euclea includes 19 species, all natives of Tropical and South Africa, 

 they are all trees or shrubs, but so far as our information goes the wood of the 

 above described species is little if at all used. The tree is known to the natives as 

 i-Dungamusi. Mr. Fourcade in his " Report on the Natal Forests," p. 1 14 says 

 of it : 



" A small tree, 1-1^ feet in diameter, 30 to 45 feet high. Bark dark grey or 

 black, thin, cracked, wood heavy, hard, strong, not elastic ; annual rings regular, 

 medullary rays very fine ; pores large, not numerous, distributed in short radial 

 lines. Colour white tinged with brown, sometimes mottled with dark patches ; 

 not used. 



Fig. 1, male flower, corolla separated; 2, section of female flower; 3, pair of 

 stamens ; all enlarged. 



