Voacanga.] lxxxiv. apocynace^ (staff). 153 



Leaves and inflorescences glabrous ; calyx 4— 4| I'm. 

 long, with a ring of glands at the very base, 

 lobfs usually porrect, as long as or shorter 

 than the tube; corolla-limb violet-brown . 13. V. hracteata. 



1. V, obtusa. A". Schum. in Engl, dh Prantl, PJlanzenfam. iv. ii. 

 149. A tall glabrous tree; branches stout, pallid, or the youngesb 

 blackish when dry. Leaves crowded towards the tips of the branches, 

 obovate to oblong, obtuse to subacute, subcuneate towards the base, 

 4-9 in. long, 1J-3J in. broad, dark green, shining when fresh, subcori- 

 aceous, dull when dry ; secondary nerves subhorizontal or rather 

 oblique, almost straight, slender; petiole 4-9 lin. long. Inflorescences 

 usually geminate from the branch-forks, shortly racemiform or urabelli- 

 form, few-flowered ; peduncle stout, 4-5 in. long ; rhachis stout, gradu- 

 ally lengthening up to 2 in. as the lower flowers fall ; bracts ovate, con- 

 cave, up to 5 lin. long, caducous ; pedicels stout, finally up to 6 lin. 

 long. Calyx wide-tubular, about 7-8 lin. long, early circumscissile at 

 the base, with very numerous glands within ; lobes rotundate, about 

 2 lin. long. Corolla white (or pale yellow ? ), sweet-scented, fleshy ; 

 tube subcylindric, not or scarcely exserted from the calyx, slightly con- 

 stricted, 7-9 lin. long, twisted from the base upwards, quite glabrous; 

 limb ovoid in bud, 8 lin. long ; lobes somewhat asymmetric, broadly sub- 

 obcordate, narrow at the base, about 1 in. long, up to almost 1^ in. 

 broad, sinus shallow. Anthers inserted close to the mouth of the 

 corolla, exserted for half their length, slightly over 3 lin. long. Disc 

 cupular, obscurely lobed, exceeding the ovary and adnate to it only at 

 the base, persistent. Style up to 8 lin. long ; stigma shortly cylindric, 

 grooved, with a frill at the base. Berries globose, over 2 in. in diam., 

 smooth; pericarp very thick, fleshy. Seeds about 4 lin. long, enveloped 

 in a thick pulpy coat; testa almost smooth externally, slightly intrud- 

 ing into the albumen. — K. Schum. in Durand & De Wild, in Bull. 

 Soc. Bot. Belg. xxxvii. 122 (F. obtusata, by error) ; De Wild, in Bull. 

 Herb. Boiss. 2 ser., i. 34. K. Schum. in Engl. Jahrb. xxiii. 226 ; 

 Scheffler in Notizbl. Konigl. Bot. Gart. Berlin, iii. 161. V. Thouarsii, 

 Hiern in Gat. Afr. PI. Welw. i. 669, not of Roem. & Schultes. 



Upper Guinea. French Guinea: Laya, by a stream, Scott-Elliot, 4481 ! 

 Cameroons : Yaunde, 2600 ft., Zenker ^ Staudt, 130 ! 



irile Xiand. Uganda: Kampala, 5'co^/-^/Zio<, 7506 ! 



IiO\irer Guinea. Angola : Ambnca ; along streams between Ngombe and 

 Puri-Cacavambola, TFelwitsch, 5977 ! Lower Coi.go : Kisantu, Oillet, 203. 



Soutli Central. Congo Free State. : Lunda ; KihKngdL, De Beerst . Niamnium, 

 by tlie Mbrwole River, Schweinfurth , 3741 ! 



Schumann also refers to V. ohtusa a plant collected by Goetzc in the Kings 

 Mountains, South-western German East-Africa, at an altitude of 7000 ft. According' 

 to the collector it is a tree 45-60 ft. high with fruits as large as a head. This 

 speciss comes extremely near to V. Thouarsii, from whicli it seems to differ mainly 

 in the less obtuse leaves, slightly larger calyces, and comparatively short corolla- 

 tubes. The description of the flowers is drawn up from Schweinfurth's and W.-l- 

 witsch's, that of the fruit and seeds from Scott-Klliot's Laya sivcimen. Tlie 

 •Cameroons plant has very narrow ieiives (4-6 in. by 1-1 J in.) and (according to 



