PLATE 314. 



SIDEBOXYLON iNEBME, Linn (Sp. PI., 192). 

 Natural Order, SAPOTAOEAE. 



An evergreen tree, 20 to 30 feet high, bearing small greenish-white flowers. 

 Bark, dark coloured, glabrous. Leaves alternate, petiolate, exstipulate, elliptical 

 to ovate or ovato-lanceolate ; margins quite entire, a little recurved ; obtuse at 

 apex, tapering to the petiole at base, midvein prominent beneath, quite glabrous, 

 coriaceous, dark green and shining above, paler ami dull beneath; 2 to 4| inches 

 or more long, f to 1 J inch wide ; petiole \ inch long, thickened. Flowers axillary 

 or scattered on the branchlets, solitary or tufted, pedicelled, pedicels 2 to 3 lines 

 long. Calyx gamosepalous, deeply 5-parted, imbricate, tube very short, 3 lobes 

 exterior, 2 interior, all broadly ovate, entire, erect, the whole calyx 2 lines long, 

 finely and sparingly pubescent. Corolla gamopetalous, 5-lobed, 1 line long, lobes 

 ovate, equalling the tube, glabrous, greenish-white. Stamens 5, alternating with 

 5 barren ones, the perfect ones opposite corolla lobes, filaments nearly twice the 

 length of corolla lobes, linear ; anthers oblong, 2-celled, dorsifixed, opening out- 

 wards; staminodes alternate with the corolla lobes, petaloid, ovate, membranous, 

 equalling lobes of corolla. Ovary superior, ovate, 3 to 5-celled, cells 1 -ovuled, 

 style a little longer than ovary, stigma obtuse. 



Habitat : NATAL : Coast Forests. Bluff, March, 200 feet alt , Wood, No. 8703. 

 Drawn and described from Wood's 8703. 



The genus Sideroxylon includes more than 60 species, widely scattered in 

 different parts of the world. In South Africa three species are known, but the 

 above described one is the only one found in Natal. There are also several species 

 in Tropical Africa. All of them are trees, and the wood of many of them is 

 valuable. That of S. inerme has been used in Natal for fencing posts, boat 

 building, and other purposes, and is known as " White Milkwood." The tree 

 seems to be confined to the coast districts, and is frequently met with close to the 

 sea. The natives call it um-Hlahla, and use the bark medicinally as an astringent. 

 The ovary is normally 5-celled, but is often found with 3 or 4 cells only. 



Fig. 1 , calyx ; 2, same opened, showing stamens and staminodes ; 4, corolla 

 opened, stamens and staminodes removed ; 5, ovary, style and r-tigma ; fi, cross- 

 section of ovary ; all enlarged. 



