174 Lxxxiv. APOCYNACEiE (stapf). \^Siro2^hanthu8. 



It was first stated by Livingstone in his " Narrative of an Expedition to the 

 Zambesi," 466, tliat an arrow poison, called " Kombi " by the Maiiganja, was pre- 

 pared from a species of Sfrophanthus. The author adds further that Dr. (now 

 Sir John) Kirk experienced a slight case of poisoning by kombi on himself followed 

 by certain symptoms which suggested "that the kombi may turn out a valuable 

 remedy." From the specimens collected by Kirk and Meller in the Manganja 

 country and Kirk's notes, there cannot be any doubt that the Strophanthus, referred 

 to by Livingstone, is S. Kombe, Oliv. On the other hand, it is not impossible that a 

 part of the seeds which, under the name of kombe seeds, formed tlie subject of 

 physiological and chemical investigations in some of the papers quoted above, wei-e 

 not derived from this species. 



8. S. hispidus, A. F. DC. in Bull Soc. Philom. iii. (1802), 123, t. 

 xiii.fig. 2. A tall climbing shrub ; branches with stiff spreading yellow 

 hairs when young, glabrescent, scabrid or rather smooth when mature, 

 reddish or dark brown, scantily dotted with small lenticels. Leaves 

 fully developed at the time of flowering, elliptic or oblong, shortly 

 acuminate, rounded or subcordate at the base, ;>-6 in. long, 1|^-3J in. 

 broad, membranous, rather firm when quite mature, at first almost 

 tomentose, then loosely hispid, ultimately more or less glabrescent 

 above ; secondary nerves 6-10 on each side, like the coarsely reticu- 

 lating veins much raised below in the old leaves; petiole 0-1 J lin. 

 long. Corymbs many-flowered, contracted or more often large and 

 loose, terminal on leafy branches ; branches and branchlets with stiff 

 spreading yellow hairs; bracts foliaceous, lanceolate, 9-40 lin. long, 

 hispid; pedicels hispid, slender, very short or up to 8 lin. long. Calyx 

 foliaceous, 8-10 lin. long ; sepals lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, tapering 

 into a linear acute or obtuse acumen, hispid on the back and along the 

 margin, glabrous inside. Corolla yellow, puberulous outside, infra- 

 staminal part 3-3 J lin. long, supra-staminal part cup-shaped or shortly 

 campanulate, 2-3 lin. long ; lobes produced from a short ovate base into 

 filiform tails, 3-5 in. long ; throat-scales ovate, obtuse, J-| lin. long, 

 purple-spotted. Anthers acute, 2 lin. long, included. Follicles divari- 

 cate, long acuminate, 1(>-14 in. long, reddish-brown, coarsely striate, 

 dotted with lenticels. Seeds oblong, greyish or yellowish, silky, 5 lin. 

 long; awn glabrous for 9-10 lin., with the plume 3^ in. long. — 

 A. P. DC. in Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. i. (1802) 412, t. 27, fig. 2 (ex Desf.), 

 and Strophanthus, iii. 9, t. 4 and 5 ; A. DC. Prod. viii. 419 ; Benth. in 

 Hook. Niger Fl. 451 ; Christy, New Comm. Plants and Drugs, No. 10 

 (1887), 24, with fig. ; Holmes in Pharm. Journ. xxi. (1890), 233 ; Baill. 

 Arch. Physiol. 1872,525, and in Bull. Soc. Linn. Paris, ii. 855 ; Blondel, 

 Stroph. du Comm. 14 ; Baill in Bull. Soc. Linn. Paris, i. 855, 850. 

 Pax in Engl. Jahrb. xv. 305, 382 ; Franch, in Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, 

 3 ser. V. 271 ; K. Schum. in Engl, k Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. ii. 182, 

 181, fig. 60 ; L. Planch. Prod. Apocyn. 33, 3G, fig. 7, v.-xv., 41, fig. 2, 

 82 ; Kohler, Mediz. Pflanz. ii. t. 194 ; Hartwich, Neue Arzneidrog. 

 323; De Wild. & Durand, Contrib. Fl. Congo, i. 41, ii. 40, and in 

 Reliq. Dewevr. i, 155 ; Payrau, Strophanthus, 47-70, 163, with figs. ; 

 De Wild, in Bull. Herb. Boiss. 2 ser. i. 34. S. hirta, Poir. Diet. Sc. 

 Nat. Ii. 150. 



