222 cxxiiii. MORACE^E (Hutcliinson). [Mesogyne. 



below into a stalk-like portion, common wall thin, tough. Seed 

 conforming to the fruit -cavity with a thin testa, filled with the embryo 

 which has a short radicle, one short roundish cotyledon, and one very 

 thick cotyledon which almost fills the seed. — Shrubs or trees, with 

 alternate shortly stalked acuminate leaves ; stipules lanceolate, 

 deciduous. Inflorescences on a reduced branch in the leaf-axils, 

 2-4 male consisting of a short stalk bearing a dense head of flowers 

 subtended by several spreading ovate bracts ; female generally 

 between a pair of males, rarely solitary, sessile, consisting of an 

 ovoid receptacle bearing small bracts at the base and on the sides 

 and upper margin, and enveloping one, rarely 2, flowers. 



S|x^cics two, endemic. 



Female receptacle beaiing a few bracts on the sides, 5 lin. 



lonp; ; fnait ellipsoid ... ... ... ... ... 1. Ji insiynis. 



Female receptacle covered from base to apex with bracts, 



2^ lin. long ; fruit globose 2. M. HeHriquesii. 



1. M. insignis, Em/L nt Ewjl. Jahrh. xx. liS, Jig. 5, M-W. A 

 shrub or tree ; branchlets slender, brown, those of the last order 

 reaching IJ lin. in thickness, with internodes generally 1-lj in. long. 

 Leaves elliptic, often tapering below the middle to a cuneate base, 

 apex abruptly acuminate, J-| in. long, tip blunt, base sometimes 

 unequal, blunt to acute, margin undulate, somewhat crisped when 

 dry, 4i-8 in. long, IJ-SI in. wide, membranous, shining above, paler 

 beneath, glabrous ; lateral nerves 9-11 on each side, ascending 

 slightly then curving upwards and uniting within the margin, promi- 

 nent beneath as is also the reticulate venation ; petiole channelled 

 above, rough, the skin peeling in brown flakes, 2-3 lin. long. Stipules 

 ovate, acute, 3 lin. long, deciduous. Inflorescences axillary, a pair 

 male with a female between standing in each axil, sometimes 

 3 or 4 male and no female, sometimes a solitary female. Peduncle 

 of male inflorescence slender, J-J in. long ; head of flowers 2 lin. in 

 diam., subtended by 4 ovate-triangular bracts about 1 lin. long; 

 perianth 3-4-lobed, about J lin. long ; lobes bluntly ovate ; stamens 

 3-4, opposite the perianth-lobes, barely 1 lin. long. Female inflores- 

 cence narrowly ovoid, about 5 lin. long and 2 J lin. in diam., bearing 

 several ovate bracts at the base, about | lin. long, and a few on the 

 sides and upper edge, the latter being smaller, J lin. long. Fruit with 

 adnate receptacle ellipsoid, narrowing below into a stalk-like portion, 

 10 lin. long, 5 lin. in diam. — Engl. Monogr. Morac. Afr. 30, t. xi. c. 



Mozamb. Distr. German East Africa : Usambara ; forest of Nguelo and 

 in the Nderema valley, 3300 ft., Hoist, 2270, 2290 ; Nderema, 3.100 ft., Heinsen, 

 2 ! sources of the Wuruni River, 4000 ft., Biichwald, 495 ! Nguelo, Scheffler, 22 ! 

 Amani, Warnecke, 461 ! Bu^ae, 2219 ! 



2. M. Henriquesii, Engl, hi Engl. Jahrh. xx. 148. Branches 

 flexuous ; internodes on the ultimate branchlets 1 J-2i in. long. 



