284 xlvii. § CLESALPiNiEiE (oliver). [Dialium. 



1, 2 or (usually) 0. Fruit, judging from immature specimens, similar 

 to that of D. guineense. 



Lower Guinea. Angola province, Pungo Andongo, Dr. Welwitsch! 

 This may prove a race of the foregoing. 



13. BANDEHLEA, Welw. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, i. 577. 



Calyx-tube elongate, dilated or campanulate above, 5-toothed or 

 5-lobed. Petals 5, subequal, imbricate, oval or oblanceolate. Stamens 

 10, all antheriferous, free, alternately shorter ; filaments pubescent 

 below ; anthers uniform, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary compressed 

 on a long slender stipes ; style short, with a small terminal stigma ; 

 ovules about 4. Legume coriaceous, turgid, 2-valved. Seeds exalbu- 

 minous, flattened transversely to the axis of the legume ; cotyledons 

 round, flat, with the small short radicle slightly projecting from their 

 emarginate base ; testa thinly coriaceous. — Climbing shrubs. Leaves 

 simple, 1-foliolate, entire, penni veined, or with the two lateral basal 

 nervures prolonged, subtrinerved. Flowers in terminal or extra-axillary 

 simple erect racemes, occasionally panicled at the ends of the branches. 



Confined to West Tropical Africa. It is not improbable that the following may prove 

 forms of one species : — 



Leaves triplinerved. Eacemes hoary or puberulous. 



Eacemes terminal, overtopping the leaves, panicled. Legume 



rather longer than gjnophore 1. B. speciosa. 



Eacemes terminal and lateral, extra-axillary, shorter than or not 



much exceeding the leaves 2. B. simplicifolia. 



Leaves scarcely 3-nerved. Eacemes wholly glabrous. Legume 



rather shorter than gjnophore 3. B. tenuijlora. 



1. B. speciosa, Welw. ; Benth. in Linn. Trans, xxv. 306, t. 40. A 

 much-branched climbing shrub or occasionally tree-like ; extremities at 

 first hoary, at length glabrous. Leaves oval or elliptic-oblong, obtuse 

 and shortly and obtusely apiculate, thinly coriaceous,- glabrous, shining 

 above, one or two pairs of the lower lateral veins prolonged about half 

 the length of the leaf, much fainter than the midrib, 2-4 in. long ; 

 petiole short, 2-3 lines. Racemes short, densely many-flowered, hoary- 

 puberulous, collected in terminal leafy panicles. Flowers drooping, 

 crimson-purple, on pedicels of 2-3 lines. Bracts and bracteoles minute, 

 caducous. Calyx-tube f in. long, obliquely obtuse at base, dilated above 

 into the broadly campanulate limb. Petals oblanceolate clawed, lamina 

 \— J in. long. Stamens equalling the petals. Ovary obliquely pointed, 

 stipitate, at length exserted ; ovules 3 or 4, confined to the lower part of 

 the suture. Legume turgid, black and shining, 2-2 \ in. long, f-1 in. 

 diameter, on a stipes affixed to one side of the obtuse base j in. long, 

 styline apiculus lateral ; valves on dehiscence somewhat involute, thin 

 but hard and woody. Seeds black, flat, roundish, disposed in a plane 

 at right angles to the axis of the legume, |-| in. in diameter. 



Lower Guinea. Golungo Alto, Angolo, Dr. Welwitsch ! Congo, Smith ! 



