362 cxxx. CYCADACE^ (Prain). [Encephalartos, 



Zanzibar : among bushes on recent coral formation, Kirk (and photograph) ! 

 Sadciix, 0264 ! Werth. 



The Mtsapu of the Rabai range {Taylor), tht^ Mkarahdka of Uscguha (StuJil- 

 mann), this species is sometimes termed the East African Sago-palm {Engler). 

 The stem, like that of various South African species, yields Kaffir Bread [Engler), 

 whence the generic name Encephalartos, iv K^(paKi) 6.pros ; near Mombasa, 

 the farinaceous seeds serve as food in time of famine [Hildehrandt). Allied, 

 among the tropical species, most closely to E. laurentianus, De Wild., of Uganda 

 and the Belgian Congo and to E. grains, Prain, of Nyasaland, E. Hildebrandtii 

 differs from the former in the shape of the female cone-scales, from the latter 

 in that of the male cone -scales, from both by its narrower, less distinctly falcate 

 pinnules ; less nearly allied to E. villosus, Lem., of Natal, whereof E. Hilde- 

 brandtii has by some authors been thought a geographical form. It is difficult 

 in certain stages to discriminate E. Hildebrandtii from E. villosus by their 

 foliage ; the female cone-scales, umbonate in E. Hildebrandtii, flattened in 

 E. villosus, differ however so essentially as to invalidate the suggestion that the 

 two are conspecific. 



5. E. ferox, Bertol.f. in Mem. Accad. Sci. Bologn. iii. (1851), 264. 

 Stem fusiform, about 2 A ft. high, 1 ft. in diam. Leaves 10 in. wide 

 above the middle ; petiole and rhachis subcylindric ; pinnules 

 firmly coriaceous, ovate-oblong, not at all falcate, 4-6 in. long, l|-2 in. 

 wide, very oblique at the base and then rounded on the upper, 

 narrow-cuneate on the lower edge, apex broad, pungently 2-4-spines- 

 cent, margin with 2-4 strong triangular diverging pungent teeth on 

 either edge. Female cone subsessile, sometimes 3 in one crown, 

 red (Fornasini). Seeds with outer coat black (Fornasini). — Engl. 

 Pfl, Ost-Afr. C. 92 ; De Wild. Ic. Hort. Then. iv. 181 ; Prain in Kew 

 Bulletin, 1916, 180. 



Mozamb. Distr. Portuguese East Africa : Mozambique, Fornasini. 



The trunk of E. Jerox yields a kind of flour used as food ; the black seeds are 

 not edible (Fornasini). As regards the bases and the marginal toothing of the 

 leaf-pinnules this sj^ecies resembles E. laurentianus, De Wild., of Uganda and the 

 Belgian Congo, and E. grains, Prain, of Nyasaland. In this Mozambique plant, 

 however, the pinnules are much shorter relatively to their width and are nearly 

 straight. From E. Hildebrandtii, A. Br. & Bouche, which is met with from 

 Dar-es-Salaam northwards to Mombasa, E. ferox differs in having much shorter 

 and broader more coarsely toothed leaf-pinnules, and in having seeds with a 

 black instead of vermilion outer coat. No specimen of E. Jerox has been seen ; 

 we are, however, indebted to Professor Antonio Bertoloni for a water-colour 

 drawing of a portion of one of the leaves on which his grandfather's original 

 account of E. Jerox was mainly based. 



6. E. gratus, Frain iii Kew Bulletin, 1916, 181. Stem usually 

 very short, globose or ellipsoid, often entirely underground^ 1-lJ ft. 

 high, 1 ft. in diam., occasionally and especially in male plants sub- 

 cylindric, up to 3-4 ft. high and at times over 2 ft. in diam., closely 

 covered with alternating scales and persistent imbricating leaf- 

 bases clothed with grey cottony tomentum. Leaves usually 4-5 ft., 

 occasionally up to 7 ft. long, 12 in. wide above the middle, dark- 

 green ; petiole and rhachis subcylindric, clothed with persistent 

 gi'ey tomentum ; pinnules firmly coriaceous, 30-70 pairs, ovate- 



