Euphorbia.'] cxxii. euphorbiace^: (buown). 589 



kidney- shaped, very unequally 2-lipped, entire with the margin of the 

 lar^e outer lip rounded, very obtuse or folded as if pinched together at i he 

 apex, often reflexed at the sides. Ovary sessile within the involucre, 

 with 3 linear calyx-lobes 1-1 J lin. long at its base, glabrous ; styles only 

 partly exserted from the involucre, 2 lin. long, free to the base, with 

 thickened or subcapitate scarcely lobed stigmas. Capsule (Boissier) 

 depressed-trigonous, 6-7 lin. in diam., with the hard woody cell-walls 

 2 lin. thick. Seeds Ij lin. in diam., subcomptessed-globose, smooth 

 JBoissier). — E. abyssinica^ A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss, ii. 239 ; Boiss. 

 in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 84, not of Gmelin or Raeuschel. 



Xile Ziand. Abyssinia: Mai Gonagoua, Qwar^in D/Z/on .' and without precise 

 locality, Schimper, 934 ! 



This is one of the species that has been mistaken for E. ahyssinica, Gmel. 

 Although it bears some resemblance to one of Bruce's figures, and like Bruce's plant 

 is called " kolquall " by the natives, yet it totally disagrees with Bruce's description 

 of E. ahyssinica as to its spina's and number of stem-angles. The name *' kolquall " 

 and its variants also appears to be indiscriminately given to several species of tree- 

 like Euphorbias and is without value for specific determination. The true E. ahyssinica 

 woulil appear to belong to the cna^^t-region, wliilst E. controversa is from tho interior. 

 A. Richard {Tent. Fl. Ahyss. ii. 239) mentions that Quartin-Dillon, in a note, has 

 stated that it differs in several particnlais from Brnce's account of the plant, and is 

 not used for tanning, but tlie wood is used for building purposes, &c., which hIso 

 imlicates that it is a different species from Bruce's plant. 



169. E. Murieli, N. E. Br. A large tree with a stout trunk and 

 a large deuvse obconic flat-topped crown of succulent leafless spineless 

 branches about as broad as the tree is high. Branches all ascending, 

 subparallel, alternately branching, slightly constricted at regular or 

 irregular intervals, but the joints so formed are of equal diameter 

 throughout, 4-angled, with flattish or shallowly concave faces or occa- 

 sionally 5-angled with narrower channels between the angles, but always 

 with the solid central part twice or more than twice as broad as the 

 narrowly wing-like or slightly compressed angles, in the branchlet seen 

 1-1 J in. square; angles with even margins, glabrous. Leaves rudi- 

 mentary, less than 1 lin. long and about 1 lin. broad, triangular, acute, 

 perhaps sometimes larger, as the specimen seen is very imperfect. 

 Spines none on the specimen and not evident on a photograph ; spine- 

 shields horny, containing the flowering-eyes, 2J-3J lin. long and 2 lin. 

 broad, oblong, 3-5 lin. apart, not connected by a horny border. C^mes 

 in dense masses at the ends of the branchlets, with peduncles ^-| in. 

 long, bearing 3 involucres, with the lateral on branches \-\ in. long, 

 glabrous. Bracts thin, suborbicular, about 1| lin, in diam., very obtuse, 

 concave. Involucres about J in. in diam., cup-hhaped, glabrous, prob- 

 ably yellow, with 5 glands and 5 short bmad transverse fringed lobes; 

 glands erect in dried flowers, contiguous or subcontigubus, about 1| lin. 

 in their greater diam., transverse, reniform, with the inner margin 

 turned in, forming a lip, and the outer margin wavy or .somewhat 

 recurved at the sides. Capsule exserted on a stout pedicel 2J-8 lin. 

 long and curved to one side, about J in. long and J in. in diam., obtusely 

 8-angled seen from above, fleshy, with rather thin woody walls to the 



