Phytolacca.'] cviii. phytolaccace^ (baker and wright). 97 



times connate at the base ; anthers oblong, incumbent. Ovary globose ; 

 carpels 6-12, free or more or less connate ; styles as many as the carpels ; 

 ovules solitary, basal, campylotropous. Fruit depressed-globose, fleshy ; 

 carpels free or connate. Seeds reniform, compressed, beaked or obtuse 

 at the base ; testa black, crustaceous, shining ; embryo annular, en- 

 closing the endosperm ; cotyledons semiterete ; radicle long. — Herbs or 

 shrubs, rarely trees, erect or soandent. Leaves alternate, entire, petio- 

 late. Flowers in dense racemes ; pedicels bracteate and bibracteolate. 

 Species about 10, chiefly natives of America. 



A shrubby climber. Carpels free or nearly so . . 1. P. dodecandra. 



An erect herb. Carpels uniicd. . . . . 2. P. octandra. 



1. P. dodecandra, VH'erii, Stirp, 143, t. 69. A woody climber. 

 Stems slender, sometimes 15-20 ft. long. Leaves alternate, ovate or 

 oblong, acute, 3-4 in. long, cuneate or rounded at the base, distinctly 

 petioled. Racemes dense, many-flowered, at first 3-4 in., finally J-1 ft. 

 long ; rhachis pube.^cent ; pedicels erecto- patent, as long as or longer than 

 the flowers; bracts minute, lanceolate, greenish. Perianth greenish, 

 campanulate, 1-1 J lin. long ; segments ovate, finally reflexed. Stamens 

 10-20, much longer than the perianth. Carpels 5-8. Fruit bright 

 red ; pulp staining the fingers yellow ; carpels about 5, not connate. — 

 liiern in Cat. Afr. PL Welw. i. 901. P. abyssinica^ Hoffm. in Comm. 

 Goett. xii. 25, t. 2 ; T. Thoms. in Speke, Nile, Append. 646 ; Oliv. in 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. xxix. 140, and ser. 2, Bot. ii. 348 ; Engl. Hochgebirgsfl. 

 Trop. Afr. 209, and Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 175; Wood, Natal PI. t. 263.; 

 Schweinf. in Bull. Herb. Boiss. iv. Append, ii. 166, not of Hook. 6z, 

 Arn. Pircunia abyssinica, Moquin in DC. Prodr. xiii. ii. 30 ; Schweinf. 

 Beitr. FI. Aethiop.''58 ; var. latifolia, A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss, ii. 222. 

 P. saponacea, Welw. Apont. 558. 



Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone : Talla Hills ; on Mount Gonkwi, Scott-Elliot^ 

 4827! Elugu, Barter, ^4^\Q\ Gold Coast: by the way to Larteh, Ansah, 173! 

 Southern Nigeria : Lagos, Milieu, 62 ! Canieroons : Yaunde, Zenker ^ Standi, 97 ! 

 Zenker, 1509 ! 



If lie land. Eritrea : Geleb, Srhweinfurth, 1793 ! Saganeiti, Sclnoeinfurtli 

 Sf Riva, 842 ! Abyssinia : Ankober, Roth ! Adowa, Quartin-Dillon Sf Petit, 333 ! 

 Ghaba, Steudner, 557 I near Gennia, Sckimper, 131; near Axun, Schimper, 1541! 

 and witliout precise locality, Schimper, 988 ! Uganda: Nakuru stream, 6000 ft., 

 Scott-Elliot, 6785 ! Berkeley Bay, Scott- Elliot, 7066 ! in gardens, Wilson, 101 ! 



ImO-wbt Guinea. Island of St. Tliomas, Mann, 1090 ! Lower Congo, Smith ! 

 Angola : Goluni^o Alto ; near Trombeta and in thin forests among the Alto Queta 

 Mo\n\t2im?,,WeltL'ifsvh, 2438 ! Pungo Andongo; between Caghay and MutoUo, Wei- 

 toitsch, 2439 ! Loando, Gossweiler, 412 ! liembe, Monteiro! 



XHozamb. Dlst. German East Africa : opposite Zanzibar, Last ! Kiliman- 

 jaro, 6000 ft., Johnston, 106 ! Uiuguru Mountains, Goetze, 228 ! Moschi, 3600 ft., 

 Volkens,\b^^\ K'Av<\^\\e, Speke Sf Grant^ 217! Portuguese East Africa : nrar 

 Shaino, netrthe nioutli of the River Shire, Kirk I British Central Africa: Nyasa- 

 land ; Mount Chiradzulu, Whytel Tanganyika Plateau, Wliyte 1 Nyika Plateau, 

 Whijte ! 



Var. apiculata, Baker & Wright. Leaves smaller, apiculate. Carpels 3-5.— 

 P. abyssinica, var. apicnlafa, Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 175. 



