354 cxxx. CYCADACE^ (Prain). [EticepfmUirtos. 



branched especially when prostrate, 12-30 ft. high, 1|-2| ft. thick, 

 closely covered under the crown with 2-3 in. wide alternating scales 

 and persistent imbricating leaf-bases, lower down pale, shaggy, and 

 marked by the scars of the fallen scales and leaves (Gentil). Leaves 

 10-20 ft. long, li— 2i ft. wide above the middle, dark green ; petiole 

 and rhachis slightly angular, quite glabrous ; pinnules fiimly cori- 

 aceous, 60-80 pairs, ovate-lanceolate, distinctly falcate, 10-15 in. 

 long, 1^-2 in. wide, very oblique at the base and there rounded on 

 the upper, straight or at times concave on the lower edge, apex acutely 

 acuminate, pungent, margin with 6-10 strong diverging teeth along 

 either edge, the tip in young plants casually 3-4-spinescent. Male 

 cone peduncled, pale green to bright red, ovate to narrow-cylindric, 

 6-12 in. long, 2^ in. wide ; peduncle 5-10 in. long, tomentose ; scales 

 spreading, obovate-deltoid, fertile portion J in. long, rather longer 

 than broad, apex rhomboid, §-f in. across, the lateral angles acute, 

 the upper very obtuse, ridged and faintly faceted, not umbonate. 

 Female cone subsessile, greyish-green {Johnston), oblong-ellipsoid, 

 1| ft. long, 9 in. wide, usually 3 to each separate crown {Doggett) ; 

 apex of scales wide-rhomboid, 2J in. across, J in. deep, lateral angles 

 explanate, upper and lower very obtuse, vertically 2-ridged with an 

 obscure central channel between the ridges, not umbonate. Seeds 

 ovoid-oblong, faintly angled, IJ in. long ; outer coat orange {John- 

 ston).-~'De Wild. Ic. Hort. Then. iv. 176, 183, Not. PI. Util. Congo, 

 i. 392, tt. 27, 28, figs. 1-6 {Laurentii), and Miss. E. Laurent, 370, 

 figs. 58, 60 ; Gentil, Rev. Hort. Belg. 1904, 8, and Gard. Chron. 

 1904, XXXV. 370, fig. 163 ; Andre, Rev. Hort. 1904, 59, footnote ; 

 Bois, Rev. Hort. 1907, 178, fig. 62 ; Pvnaert, Rev. Hort. Belg. 1908, 

 181, 182 with fig. ; Engl. Pflanzenw. Afr. ii. 84 ; Th. & Hel. Durand, 

 Syll. Fl. Congol. 649. E. sp., Johnston, Uganda Protect, i. 134, 321, 

 322, figs. 216, 217 ; Andre, I.e., possibly, as to BUttner's plant. 



Nile Land. Uganda : Toro ; valley of the Mpanga, 3500-4200 ft., Doggetl ! 

 Johnston (photographs) ! Bagshawe, 1054 ! 



Lower Oninea. Belgian Congo : Kwango district ; on steep banks of the 

 Kwango at Kaaongo Lunda, Gentil \ without precise locality, Pynaert. Angola : 

 Portuguese Congo ; Mayaka, on steep banks of the Kwango opposite Kasongo 

 Lunda, Genlil ! 



The Mdlde of the inhabitants of the Kwango valley, this species has no 

 economic value {Gentil). In its southern locality it is said to be confined to the 

 sloping banks of the Kwango and the level tract immediately behind ; Gentil, 

 to whom its first introduction to cultivation in 1903 is due^ thinks that here it 

 may be a survival from old forests destroyed by constantly recurring fires. 

 According to Johnston it is, in its northern locahty, similarly restricted to open 

 park-like forest among boulders in the Mpanga valley near the south-eastern 

 base of Ruwenzori. Andre states that a species of Encephalartos was met with 

 by Biittner during his journey in 1884-5 across Angola and the south-west Congo. 

 If so, the species in question was probably that here described ; Buttner's 

 route followed the left bank of the Kwango. There is, however, no allusion to 

 the species in the list of plants collected by Biittner (Mitteil. Afr. Gesellsch. 

 Dcutschl. V, 253-2t)6) nor is it included among the new plants described by him 

 in 1889 (Verh. Bot. Ver. Brand, xxxi. HI). A second introduction of E. lauren- 

 tianus, from the Kwango district, was effected by Pynaert prior to 1906. 



