HelhlUS.] XLII. RHAMNE.i: (HEMSLT.Y). 



Mozamb. Distr. Lower valley of the river Shire, Dr. Me/ler ! 

 ■ Also common in extratro|)ical S. Africa. 



2. H. mystacinus, Hemsl A climbin;i slirub with simpio, spirally 

 twisted tendrils. Branches slender, ano;ular, divaricate, densely silky puhes- 

 cent or nearly glabrous. Leaves petiolate, ovate elliptical or'obloiitj, IJ 3 

 in. long, obtuse, miicronulate, subcordate or obtuse at the base, entire, {gla- 

 brous above, densely silky-hirsute beneath. Flowers densely, often rusty, 

 hirsute or villous, in simple axillary or terminal umbels, on long peduncles 

 equalling or exceeding the leaves ; pedicels at lenjith \ \ in. Fruit more or 

 less tuberculate and pubescent, spherical. Calyx^obes siibporsistent.— //. 

 sca/idens, Kick. Fl. Abyss, i. 139. Rhamnns myataciuus, Ait.; liort. K'-w. 

 i. 266. 



Nile Land. Abyssinia, Schiwper 1 and others. 



The synonymy of the two species has been misunderstood, Richard having taken WUU- 

 mi-tia scavdens for this species, hence the name he adopted must be suppressed, as it be- 

 longs more properly to H. ovatus. 



8. LASIODISCUS, Hook. f. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Fl. i. 381. 



Calyx-tube obconical ; limb 5-lobed ; lobes reflexed, keeled inside. Petals 

 5, linear-obovate, concave. Stamens 5, inserted below the margin of the 

 disk, equalling the petals ; filaments filiform or slightly dilated ; anthers 

 small, 2-celled. Disk large, tumid, densely villous, covering the broad top 

 of the ovary, obscurely angled. Ovary 3-celled, half inferior; cells 1- 

 ovnlate. Styles 3, short, connate to the middle ; stigmas recurved. Fruit 

 not seen. — A suberect shrub with opposite leaves and intei-petiolar stipules. 

 Flowers in axillary compound cymes. 



The genus is limited to a single species, endemic in W. tropical Africa, and is closely 

 allied to Nesiota, differing principally in its half-inferior ovary, recurved calyx-lubts. and 

 large swollen disk covering the top of the ovary. 



1. L. Mannii, Hook. f. in Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PL i. 381. A 

 slender half-climbing shrub, 10-12 ft. high. Branches terete when young, 

 as well as the petioles and flowers, clothed with rigid, ferruginous, strigose 

 hairs. Leaves large, opposite, shortly petiolate, ovate-oblong, acute, very 

 acuminate, narrowed and obliquely subcordate at the base, 6-12 in. long, 

 obtusely serrate, membranous. Stipules free, erect, lanceolate, acute, striate, 

 chartaceous, \ in. or more in length, deciduous. Flowers large for the 

 Order, in compound, axillary, few-flowered cymes. Peduncles about half as 

 long as the leaves. Bracts 2, at the base of the cyme, large, ovate, acute ; 

 bracteoles similar but smaller ; pedicels subumbellate. 



Upper Guinea. Prince's Island, Mann ! 



Order XLIII. AMPELIDE^ (by ^\v. J. G. Baker). 



Flowers regular, hermaphrodite or unisexual. Calyx snudl, entire or 4 3- 

 toothed. Petals 4-5, valvate, free or often permanently coherent at the edges, 

 VOL. I. O 



