Diospyros.] Lxxxi. ebenace^ (hiern). ^19 



Fruit subglobose, f-1 in. diameter or rather larger, glabrate, often 

 slightly wrinkled, 4-5-seeded, edible. Seeds shining, -^-f in. long ; 

 albumen somewhat ruminated. Fruiting calyx somewhat or but little 

 increased, with undulated margins, appressed to the fruit or spreading. 

 — Alph. DC. Prodr. viii. p. 672. D. senegalendf;, Perrottet ex Alph. 

 DC. Lc. p. 234. D. hicolor, Klotzsch in Peters Mossamb, Bot. i. p. 184. 



Vpper Guinea. i^enQ^Simhia,, Perrottet ! Leprieur ! Lclievre .' Roger.' Whitfield! 

 Daniell! ("Monkey Ouava"); Cape Coast. Brass!; Niger Expedition, at Nupe, 

 Barter! 



Wile ]band. Abyssinia, Schimper ! Ant. Petit ! Nubia, Kotschy ! Sennaar, Cien- 

 kowsky ; Grallabat, Schwemfurth ! Dinka-land (native ebony) and Bongo-land (a 

 favourite fruit), Schwemfurth, "Heart of Africa," English edition, vol. i. pp. 155, 221. 



Xiower Guinea. Golungo Alto (native name, Musolvcira) and Bumbo, also 

 Congo at Ambriz, Welwitsch ! 



Soutb Central. Matabili-land, T. Baines ! 



Mozamb. Blstr. Near Lupata, Kirk ! between Tette and the coast, Kirk! 50 

 miles above Tette, Kirk ! Senna, Peters ! 



Occurs also in Yemen, Arabia Felix ; see Hiern in Trimen, Joum, Bot., 1877, p. 98. 



This species is probably the plant mentioned by Perrottet, without description, 

 under the name of Diospyros dioica (non Span.), Observ. Cult. Senegal, in Annales 

 Maritimes, Paris, 1831, p. 352. 



The specimen in fruit without expanded leaves, from the island of Fernando Po, 

 gathered by Th. Vogel, which was doubtfully referred to D. senegalensis, Perr., by- 

 Mr. Bentham in Hook. Niger Fl. p. 442, differs by the reflexed calyx, but I am 

 unable to refer it to any species known to me. 



2. D. platjrpbylla, Welw. ex Hiern Monogr. Eben. p. 266. A 

 moderate-sized tree, loosely and tortuously branched, angular and 

 leafy towards the extremities ; young parts and inflorescence tomentose- 

 pubescenfc, pale tawny or ferruginous ; bark glabrate, dark or ashy. 

 Leaves subrotund oval or somewhat obovate, rounded or obtuse at the 

 apex, rounded or obtuse often oblique at the base, firmly coriaceous, 

 glabrescent and rather shining above, slightly tomentose or puberulous 

 beneath, inconspicuously reticulated, 3-6 by 1^3^ in. ; petiole ^-^ in. 

 long, robust. Flowers monstrous in the specimens, the inflorescence 

 consisting entirely of densely imbricated ferruginous-tomentose folia- 

 ceous scales. Fruit said to be edible. 



slower Guinea. Pungo Andongo, in woods, Welwitsch ! 



The native name is " Musolveira," the same as that of D. mespiliforinis, Hochst., 

 of which it may perhaps prove to be a monstrous aberrant form. 



3. D. verrucosa, Hiern, Monogr. Eben. p. 167. A shrub ; 

 branches numerous, at length glabrescent, terete ; young shoots densely 

 and shortly pubescent, subferruginous. Leaves ovate-oblong, thinly 

 coriaceous, somewhat narrowed and mucronulate at the apex, rounded 

 at the base, nearly glabrous above except that the depressfd midrib is 

 puberulous, paler with pale appressed pubescence beneath and rufous- 

 pubescent on the raised midrib and lateral veins, l-|-3^ by f;-l^ in. ; 

 lateral veins about 6 on each side of the midrib ; petiole to~^ i"- ^^^PT? 

 rufous, densely puberulous. Male flowers unknown. Female flowers 

 solitary, on distinct, densely puberulous rather slender peduncles, ax- 

 illary ; bracts small, rufous-hairy, caducous, near the base of the 



