Alstonia.] lxxxiv. apocynace^ (staff). 121 



cotyledons or slightly shorter. — Trees, often very tall, or shrubs. 

 Leaves in whorls of 3-4, or more rarely opposite, frecjuently with 

 numerous horizontal nerves ; axillary stipules ; axillary glands 

 usually numerous, often very small, in a fringe or covering the 

 hollowed base of the petiole, rarely both. Inflorescences terminal, 

 usually whorled on the top of the branch, rarely with additional ones 

 from the next leaf-whorl, mostly many-flowered and compound, 

 umbelliform, corymbose or panicled. Flowers white, whitish or 

 brownish, middle-sized or small. 



Species about 30, natives of India, Malaya, tropical Australia and Polynesia, 

 1 in tropical Af i ica. 



1. A. congensis, Engl, in Engl. Jahrb. viii. 04. A laro:e 

 tree, with a tall clear trunk, quite glabrous ; branches moderately 

 stout, brown or blackish when dry. Leaves in whorls of 4-C, 

 oblanceolate to obovate-cuneate, shortly acuminate or obtuse or 

 retuse, acute or cuneate at the base, 4-7 in. long, IJ-^J in. broad, 

 subcoriaceous when mature, dark above, pale and more or less 

 glaucous beneath ; secondary nerves straight, horizontal, prominent on 

 both sides, 30-40 on each side ; petiole very short or up to h in. long. 

 Panicles several from the tops of the branches, compound, loose, many- 

 flowered, greyish, puberulous ; peduncle up to H in. long; branches 

 whorled in 2-3 tiers, the lowest IJ in. long, bearing corymbosely 

 arranged pseudo-umbels of 4-7 flowers; bracts small, crowded a.t the 

 base of the pseudo-umbels ; pedicels up to 2 J lin. long. Calyx scarcely 

 1 lin. long, minutely greyish tomentose ; segments broadly-ovate, 

 subacuminate. Corolla more or less minutely papillose-tomentose 

 without or glabrescent in the lower part ; tube slender, 4-5} Un. 

 long, scantily pubescent within ; limb villous at the mouth ; lobes 

 somewhat obliquely ovate, l-i-2 liu. long. Anthers | lin. long. Ovary 

 finely greyish-tomentose except at the base ; style (inclusive of the 

 stigma), 4 lin. long. — Durand Sz Schinz, Etudes Fl. Congo, i. li>0. 

 A. scholaris, Chevalier, Geogr. Bot. Seneg. et Soudan, 207, 224, and 

 in Rev. Cult. Colon, vii. (1900), 41)2, 493 with fig., not of R. Br. 



Upper Guinea. Seiiegambia : rather common from the Gambia to Portuguese 

 Guinea; in the Sinedone, A'deane, Sedhiou, Yacine and Fogny districts, Chevalier ; 

 Diebali, Sehire. Gambia : near Bathurst and Balantacounda, ex Chevalier. Lagos : 

 Ibad in Forest, P^inch, 145 ! Niger Protectorate : Abol., Barler, 490 ! Idda, Barter, 

 302! Brass, ^arz'er, 64 1 Caraeroons : Bipinde, Zf «t^r, 1622 ! 



Wile Stand. British East Africa : Niamniam ; by the Diamvonu stream, 

 Schweinfurth, 3260 ! 



ILower Guinea. Lower Congo : Smith! Naumann. 



All the specimens which 1 have seen (except Punch's) consist of barren branches, 

 and it is therefore possible that they may belong to more than one species in spite of 

 their great resemblance in vegetative characters. Moreover, A. congensis was 

 described from barren specimens, so that even tiie basis of the species is uncertain. 

 Chevalier describes the flowers as yellowish-brown with a penetrating sweet odour; 

 they are out in Senegambia in January and February. According to Punch, who 

 collected early in December, the tree sheds nearly all its leaves before flowering. 



