Strepkonema.] lviii. lythrace^ (hiern). 485 



Leaves sub-opposite or alternate, shining- especially on upper side, 

 oval-oblong, acuminate, with margins neatly recurved, midrib and 

 lateral veins silky beneath and in relief on both sides, somewhat cuneate 

 at base, 4-6 J in. long. Petioles -J in. long, silky, patent, thicker than~ 

 midrib of leaves. Bracteoles about 1 line long, oblong, patent or de- 

 clining, concave, silky. Pedicels about J in. long. Calyx with 4 or 5 

 shallow depresso-deltoid lobes. Petals white. Ovary partly inferior, 

 glabrous, 1-celled, 2-ovuled. 

 Upper Guinea. Muni river, Mann ! 



11. OLINIA, Thunb. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, i. 785. 



Calyx tubular, adhering to the ovary and exceeding it, truncate 

 at apex, thickened, sinuous or obscurely dentate ; the portion above 

 the ovary deciduous. Petals 5, inserted at apex of calyx-tube, persis- 

 tent, as lung as the calyx. Scales 5, alternating with and interior to 

 the petals, narrow, ultimately incurved, arising from top of calyx- tube. 

 Stamens 5, opposite and just below the scales ; filaments very short 

 adnate, reflexed and directing the short 2-celled anthers extrorsely ; 

 connective thickened. Ovary 3-5-celled, wholly inferior ; cells few- 

 ovuled ; ovules pendulous from central column ; style straight, club- 

 shaped, included in calyx-tube ; stigma blunt. Fruit drupaceous, 

 2-5-celled, subgiobose, surrounded by lower portion of calyx ; cells 

 1 -seeded. — A shrub or small tree with opposite leaves and branches 

 and terminal or subterminal inflorescence. 



An anomalous genus, consisting of only one species including three varieties; it 

 occurs also at the Cape, but not out of Africa. 



" Olinia Bochetiana, A. Juss." Schweinfurth, Fl. iEthiop. 259, is said to occur in 

 Abyssinia. It is probably identical with 0. cymosa. 



1. O. cymosa, Thunb. in Rom. Arch. ii. Pars i. 4 (1799). A nearly 

 glabrous shrub 4-10 ft. high, branched from the base ; branches 

 acutely quadrangular, especially at the extremities. Leaves glabrous, 

 shortly stalked or subsessile, oval, narrowed at the base, bluntly 

 emarginate at apex, thinly coriaceous, deep green above, paler 

 beneath, pellucidly net-veined, patent ; margins somewhat incrassato- 

 reflexed, scarcely wavy ; 1-2| in. long by £-l£ in. wide. Bracts and 

 bracteoles imbricated over the flower in bud, deciduous, white, hairy. 

 Flowers about \ in. long, with very sweet fragrance. Calyx sparingly 

 pilose externally, glabrous internally, coriaceous. Petals white, pan- 

 duriform, with a bunch of hairs inside near base, shorter than the 

 calyx, quincuncial in aestivation. Scales converging and closing the 

 tube of the calyx in bud, hooded, narrowly obovate, spreading in flower 

 and subsequently incurved above the stamens. Style sparingly pilose ; 

 ovary usually 4-celled. Fruit red. Seeds oval ; embryo spiral, coty- 

 ledons scarcely distinct. — Kl. Ic. PI. Rar. 60, t. 24 (1841). 0. capensis, 

 Kl. I.e. 6. t. 3; O. acuminata, Kl. I.e. 21, t. 21. 



Grows in rocky thickets. 



