124! XIV. FITTOSPOEE^ (oLIVER). 



or rugose. — Trees shrubs or underslirubs. Leaves alternate simple entire 

 wavy or tootlied, exstipulate. Inflorescence various. 



Excepting the large genns Pittosporum, which is widely spread iu warm countries, the 

 Order is wholly Australian. 



1. PITTOSPORUM, Banks; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PL i. 131. 



Sepals free or slightly united at the base. Petals more or less spreading 

 above, free or connivent or coherent into a tube below. Filaments subulate ; 

 anthers erect, ovate-oblong. Ovary nearly or quite divided into 2 (rarely 3 

 or 5) cells by the projecting placentas. Capsule coriaceous or rather woody, 

 globose or obovoid, dehiscing in two entire septiferons valves. Seeds various 

 in form from mutual pressure, often imbedded in viscous fluid. 



The African species as they now stand may be said to be endemic, but although suffi- 

 ciently distinct from each other, they are both very nearly allied to other species occurring 

 in India and the Mauritius. 

 Leaves oblanceolate ; apex rounded obtuse or acute, ofteu rusty-tomen- 



tose on expansion. Flowers i— | in. Sepals usually more or less 



tomentose. Ovary pilose LP. abyssinicum. 



Leaves oval, attenuate to each end, acute or acuminate, glabrous. 



.Flowers \ iu. Sepals and ovary nearly glabrous 2. P. Mannii. 



1. P. abyssinicum, Delile in Ann. Sc. Nat. Ser. 2. xx. 89. Leaves 

 roiiaceous, oblanceolate or obovate-oblong, apex obtuse or rather acute, nar- 

 rowed below into the petiole, at first more or less covered especially on the 

 midrib with an early deciduous rusty tomentura or appressed pubescence, 

 at length nearly or quite glabrous, 2-4 in. long, f-l| in. broad ; petiole up 

 to f in. or more. Flowers usually in umbellate clusters, crowded in dense 

 terminal corymbose panicles, shorter than the surrounding leaves, about \-\ 

 in. long. Ovate sepals more or less rusty-tomentose outside. Ovary shortly 

 pilose. Capsule globose or ellipsoidal, sometimes abruptly and shortly nar- 

 rowed at the base, nearly smooth or minutely tubercled, 2-5 lines diam. — 

 Kich. Fl. Abyss. Atlas, t. xi. 



Nile I«and. Abyssinia, Schimper ! Roth ! and others ; Bahr-el-Abiad [Schweinf. et 

 Asch. Enum.). 



Var. angoJensis. Nearly or quite glabrous, the inflorescence puberulous. 



Lower Guinea. Angola, Distr. Huilla, Br. Welwitsch ! 



Very nearly allied to, if indeed specifically distinct from, P. viridifiorum^ Sims, of the 

 Cape. 



2. P. Mannii, Hook.f. in Journ. Linn. Sqc. vi. 5. A shrub or small 

 tree attaining 20-30 ft. Leaves firmly membranous or rather coriaceous, 

 oval or oblong-elliptical, narrowed to each end, acute or acuminate, somewhat 

 wavy, glabrous, 2-5 in. long, f- If in. broad ; petiole i-1 in. Panicles 

 branched, many-flowered. Flowers small, about 2 lines long. Calyx-lobes 

 often rather unequal, free or irregularly and very shortly connate, nearly gla- 

 brous. Ovary nearly or quite glabrous. Capsule globose, about ^ in. diam. 



Upper Guinea. Clarence Peak, Fernando Po, 8-9000 ft., and Camaroons mountain, 

 5-7000 ft.. Mann I 



