186 ex VI. LAURiNKfi (stapf). [Eypodaphnis. 



pubescent. Leaves ovate- to obovate-elliptic, acutely acuminate, or 

 almost caudate, very shortly acute or almost obtuse at the base, 5-10 in. 

 long, 2J-3 in. broad, thinly coriaceous, densely fulvc-pubescent on the- 

 nerves below when unfolding, soon quite glabrous, drying brown, paler 

 below ; midrib narrow, channelled above, very prominent below ; lateral 

 nerves 4-5 on each side, distant, very obliquely ascending, indistinctly 

 looping, slightly prominent below; veins transverse, parallel, faintly 

 raised above, very fine; petiole terete, with a faint groove above,. 

 |-1 J in. long. Panicle subcorymbose, sometimes made up of several 

 panicles springing from the axils of the uppermost leaves, 1^-3 in. long^ 

 2-2 J in. wide, many-flowered, finely rusty-pubescent all over ; lowest 

 branches undivided for 1 in. or more, then like the others frequently 

 divided with short branchlets and pedicels, J-1 lin. long. Perianth 

 finely rusty or fulvous-pubescent to velvety on both sides ; segments- 

 slightly unequal, the outer oblong, 2 lin. long, the inner ovate-oblong 

 and slightly shorter, all spreading in the open flower. Stamens of the 

 male 1 lin. long; filaments finely and minutely pubescent along the- 

 sides, slightly longer than the anthers. Style J to almost 1 lin. long^ 

 and like the flat top of the ovary fulvo-pubescent. — Ocotea Zenkeriy 

 Engl. Jahrb. xxvi. 385, t. 9, fig. A. 



Upper Guinea. Cameroons : in primeval forests, Bipinde, Zenker, 851 1 

 3033 ! 3033a ! Kiango, Zenker, 1630 ! Johaun-Albreclitshohe, Staudt, 961. 



4. OCOTEA, Aubl.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 157. 



Flowers usually dioecious, or hermaphrodite. Perianth herbaceous,, 

 with or without a receptacle or tube, 6- or 8-lobed or partite ; lobes or 

 segments equal, usually deciduous. Hermaphrodite : stamens in 3 or 

 4 whorls, the outer 3 fertile, the fourth (if present) staminodial ; 

 anthers 4-valved ; valves in superposed pairs, of the 2 outer whorls 

 introrse, of the third extrorse or subextrorse, very rarely introrse ; fila- 

 ments very short or 0, or longer than the anthers, of the third whorl 

 with a sessile, very rarely stipitate, gland at each side of the base ;, 

 staminodes, if present, slender. Ovary ovoid, ellipsoid or subglobose, 

 usually glabrous, longer or shorter than the style. Male : as in the 

 hermaphrodite flowers, but ovary sterile, stalk-like or quite sup- 

 pressed. Female : as in the hermaphrodite flowers, but stamens 

 rudimentary, barren. Fruit baccate, ellipsoid or globose, seated on or 

 in an enlarged cupular receptacle, which is either truncate or 6-toothed 

 or 6-lobed from the persistent perianth-lobes. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves 

 alternate, membranous or coriaceous, glabrous or hairy. Flowers small,. 

 in cymes, arranged in axillary or subterminal panicles. 



Species about 200, mostly in Tropical America, a few in South Africa and the 

 Mascarenes. 



The genus has been defined here in the sense of Mez's monograph of the Americnn 

 Lanrinece (Jahrb. Konigl. Bot. Qart. Berlin^ v, 219), and probably includes several 

 types which might well be taken as generically distinct. 



