19 



PLATE 267- 



CELASTBUS ACUMINATUS, Linn. f. (Fl. Cap. Vol. 1, p. 454). 

 Natural Order, CELASTRINEJ:. 



An unarmed shrub or small tree from 5 to 20 feet in height with trunk 7 to- 

 18 inches in diameter. Bark dark brown, thin, even, twigs angular. Leaves 

 alternate, petiolate, exstipulate, elliptical, elliptical-oblong or broadly lanceolate, 

 acute, and mucronate at apex, cuneate at base, pale beneath, margins slightly re- 

 curved or thickened (in the dried specimens) distantly serrate, veinlets prominent 

 beneath, obscure above ; 1 to 2^ inches long, ^ to 1 inch wide ; petiole 1 to 3 lines 

 long. Inflorescence axillary, umbellate, umbels 1 to 4 flowered, peduncles shorter 

 than the petioles ; pedicels 1 to 1^ line long, lengthening a little in fruit. Calyx 

 5-fid, lobes acute, apiculate, spreading. Petals 5, elliptic-orbicular, 3-4 times 

 longer than calyx, spreading. Stamens 5, alternate with petals, inserted under 

 margin of the disk, filaments short, thick, anthers sub-globose, 2-celled. Disk 

 indistinctly lobed. Ovary 2-celled, cells 2-ovuled, style none, stigma truncate. 

 Capsule oblong or obovate, 2 to 4 lines long, 2-seeded by abortion, dehiscent. 

 Seeds oblong, compressed, brown, aril thin, orange coloured. 



Habitat: NATAL: Near Durban, 150 feet alt, July, Wood No. 8283; Gerrard 

 & McKen No. 1370 without locality. 



A shrub or small tree known as "Silkbark," to Dutch colonists as "Zydebast, 1 * 

 to natives as " um-Nama." Mr. Fourcade, in his report on the Natal Forests, 

 Page 100, says of it : 



" A small tree of 9 to 18 inches in diameter, 20 to 30 feet high. Bark dark 

 brown, thin, even, wood very heavy, hard, strong, very close grained and compact, 

 with close and narrow concentric bands of white tissue ; medullary rays very fine 

 and close ; pores very small, irregularly distributed, colour pale pink tinged with 

 brown, suitable for turners work and engraving. This species is easily known 

 from a curious peculiarity of the leaves and bark, which show numerous fine white, 

 silky threads when broken." 



Also found in Cape Colony. 



Fig. 1, flower; 2, same, corolla removed; 3, calyx lobe; 4, corolla lobe 5, 

 capsule open ; all enlarged. 



