Marua.] ix. capparidace^ (oliver). 87 



tube urceolate, 4-gonou8 ; segments oblong, obtuse, ciliate, reflexed. Corolla 

 0. Corona multifid. Stamens about 30. Ovary cylindrical, glabrous. 

 Fruit ^ in. diam. 



Dr. Schweinfurth states that a tree, entirely agreeing with this description (from Forskal, 

 ri. iEgypt. Arab. 104), is abundant in the Soturba district of Nubia (Fl. v. Suturba, 13)! 

 The name, however, is omitted in the enumeration of Nile Land plants appended to his Fl. 

 Mthioj). He describes the fruit as fleshy and drupaceous, in size and form similar to that 

 of the Almond. Forskal gathered his plant in Yemen, so that it may be expected on the 

 western shores of the Red Sea. 



10. M. Currori, Hook. /. FL Nigrit. 218. Branches glabrous, punc- 

 tate. Leaves simple, rather coriaceous, oblong oval-oblong or oblanceo- 

 Inte, obtuse, mucronate, 1-1-^ in. long, 4-6 lines broad; petioles \-\ in. 

 Flowers in the axils of the upper leaves or corymbose. " Calyx-tube longer 

 than the acute lobes. Corona petaloid, sub-2-partite." Ovary ovoid, nar- 

 rowed above into a short point. Fruit not seen. 



Lower Guinea. Elephant's Bay, W. tropical Africa, Curror ! 



The material is too imperfect for satisfactory description. The character of the free 

 margin of the disk (corona) must remain uncertain. The form of the ovary, however, distin- 

 guishes it. In Dr. Welwitsch's Angola Herbarium there is a Mcerua in fruit only, which in 

 habit and foliage closely resembles the fragment of M. Currori in Herb. Kew ; but the 

 fruit is cylindrical-torulose, 2-3 in. long, and I can hardly suppose the ovoid ovary of 

 M. Currori could acquire such a form. Dr. Welwitsch's specimeus therefore probably be- 

 long to a distinct species. 



Mcerua crassifolia, Fenzl (Schweinf. et Asch. Enum.), I do not know. I presume it to 

 be a mere manuscript name, probably applied to one of Kotschy's Nubian plants. 



" M. crassifolia, V." Herb. Schweinfurth, from the shores of tlie Red Sea, I take to be 

 M. rigida. 



5. COURBONIA, A. Brongn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 969. 



Sepals 3, sometimes 4 or 2, connate at the base in a very short, cylindrical 

 or campanulate tube, valvate in aestivation. Disk with a short, toothed, free 

 margin surrounding the mouth of the calyx-tube. Petals 0. Stamens inde- 

 finite, inserted upon a columnar torus which equals or exceeds the calyx -tube ; 

 filaments free, filiform ; anthers ovoid or oblong, shortly apiculate. Ovary 

 fusiform, on a long, slender gynophore, 2-celled or exceptionally 3-celled, 

 owing to the meeting of the placentary plates ; ovules 2 on each placenta, 

 strictly parietal or inserted upon the spurious dissepiment. Fruit (seen only 

 in one species) globose, coriaceous, indehiscent, 1- or few-seeded ; seeds large, 

 exalbuminous ; cotyledons very thick, wavy on the inner face ; radicle deeply 

 included; testa papery, apparently abounding in barred cells. — Shrubs, with 

 numerous, simple, glabrous, glaucous or glaucescent, entire, shortly petiolate, 

 more or less coriaceous leaves. Flowers numerous, axillary, of moderate size. 

 — Fhysanthemum, Klotzsch in Peters' Mossamb. Bot. 167. t. 29. 



Confined to tropical Africa. The genus appears sufiBciently distinct from Mama in its 

 normally trimerous calyx, in the form of the ovary, which taperg to each end, and in the 

 seeds. 

 Leaves ovate or elliptical, obscurely 3-5 -nerved at the base, obtnae or 



. rather acute. Petioles 2-3 linea .• . 1- C. dgcumbfm. 



Leaves oval or linear-oval, acute, on petioles of 1 line or lew .... 2. C. virgala. 



