86 IX. cAPPARiDACEiE (oliver). [Marua. 



7. M. angolensis, DC. Prod. i. 254. A shrub or small tree attaining 

 20-25 ft. Extremities glabrous or minutely pubescent, with a pale, smooth 

 or minutely verruculose bark. Leaves simple, rather coriaceous, varying 

 from lanceolate to ovate or obovate, obtuse retuse or rarely somewhat acute, 

 usually mucronulate; base rounded obtuse or cuneate, glabrous or rarely 

 scabrid-puberulous, usually from 1-2^ in. long, ^-l^ in. broad; petioles 

 ■5-I in. Flowers in leafy corymbose racemes, terminating the branches or 

 short lateral shoots, or solitary and axillary, when corymbose the bracts of the 

 upper flowers are obsolete or reduced to minute stipular scales. Calyx-tube 

 tubular, usually varying from about half as long to as long as the lobes. 

 Corona toothed or fimbriate. Petals 0. Columnar torus equalling or exceed- 

 ino- the tube. Ovary linear; placentas 2, with indefinite ovules; stigma 

 sessile. Fruit torulose or moniliform, from 1 or 2 to 6 in. in length, on a 

 gynophore of l-l^ in. — Deless. Ic. Sel. iii. 13. M. senegalensis. Brown in 

 Denh. and Clapp. App. 21 ; Eich. in Fl. Seneg. 28. t. 7. M. Jloribunda, 

 Fenzl in Flora, 1844, 312. M.retusa, Hochst., and M. lucida, Hochst. (ex 

 Eich.) in Schimp. PI. Abyss. 



Upper Guinea. Senegainbia, Heudelot ! Perrottet ! Nupe, on the Niger, Barter I 

 Nile If and. Abyssinia, Sckfimper ! 

 IiOTver Guinea. Angola, Br. Welimtsch ! 

 Var. Leaves more acute. — Sennar, Kotschy ! 

 Var. Leaves minutely scabrid. — Shire, Dr. Kirk ! 

 Dr. Kirk adds that " the fruit is said to be poison." 



Var. heterophylla (Welw.). Leaves varying from broadly elliptical to narrow -linear (5 

 in. long, 2 lines broad). — Loanda, Br. Welwitsch! 



M. angolensis occurs also in south extratropical Africa. 



8. M. rigida U. Br. in Denh. and Clapp. App. 21. A shrub or small 

 tree, attaining (in Central Africa) 20-30 ft., with straight rigid terete 

 branches, the lateral slender branches often terminating in acute points, 

 minutely pubescent or glabrous. Leaves small, varying from obovate to 

 linear-oval, obtuse or retuse and minutely apiculate or in narrow-leaved 

 forms more or less acute, scabrid-puberulous or glabrous, ^-f in. long, 2-5 

 lines broad ; petiole -5—2 lines. Flowers axillary, solitary or in fascicles of 

 2 or 3, or subcorymbose on short lateral shoots ; pedicels equalling or exceed- 

 ing the leaves. Calyx-tube much shorter than or equalling the elliptical 

 lobes. Disk-margin fimbriate or obsolete. Petals or minute, many times 

 shorter than calyx-lobes. Ovary linear ; stigma sessile. Ripe fruit (in the 

 petaloid Angola plant) torulose, glabrous. 



Var. o. Leaves obovate, scabrid; calyx -tube nearly equalling lobes; petals 0; disk fim- 

 briate. 



Upper Guinea. Senegambia {ex Rich.). 



North Central. Kouka, E. VogelJ 



Var. jS. (virffata,yfe\yr.). Leaves linear-oval ; petals 0; disk-margin obsolete. 



Iiower Guinea. Mossamedes, Angola, Br. Welwitsch ! 



Var. 7. {buxifolia, Welw.). Leaves oblanceolate ; petals minute. 



Ijower Guinea. Mossamedes, Br. Welwitsch ! 



9.? M. uniflora, Vahl ; DC. Prod. i. 254. Branches smooth. Leaves 

 about ^ in. long or less, succulent, cuneate-ovate or oval, somewhat retuse. 

 Peduncles 1-flowered, solitary, slender, ^ in. long. Calyx 4-fid, glabrous ; 



