600 cxxii. EUPnoRBiACE.*: (brown). [Euphorbia. 



189. E. hermentianay Lemaire in III. Hort. 1858, Mlscel. G3. A 

 succulent spiny bush (2-3 ft. high in the plants seen) or perhaps finally 

 a tree, with whorls or clusters of strictly erect straight branches parallel 

 with the stem. Branches 3-4-angled, constricted at varying intervals, 

 1-2 in. broad across each face, dark green, with a somewhat feathered 

 stripe or irregular marbling of whitish-green down each face, especially 

 on the young branches; angles compressed, sinuately toothed, with the 

 teeth J-J in. apart and projecting 1-2 lin., bearing a pair of widely 

 diverging dark brown (finally grey) spines 2-;> lin. long, on small ovale 

 horny shields. Leaves soon deciduous, thickly herbaceous, .scarcely 

 fleshy, on some plants small and not more than J in. long and J in. 

 broad, elliptic-oblong, on others li-2^ in. long, \-\ in. broad, oblanceolate 

 or somewhat spathulate-lanceolate, obtuse, apiculate, t ipering from 

 much above the middle to the sessile base, glabrous, light green. 

 Flowers and fruit unknown. — Boiss. in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 82 ; Pax in 

 Engl. Jahrb. xxxiv. 72, partly ; Berger, Sukk. Euphorb. 50, fig. 13. 



!LoDirer Giilnea. Gaboon, described from living plants cultivated at Kew ! 



The jilant collected by Laurent in the Lower Congo rnprion, said to be used for 

 hedges by the natives, referred to E. hermentiana by Piix in l)e Wild. & Durand, 

 Contrib. V\. Congo, i. 53, is probably a distinct species ; I have not seen it. 



li)0. E. conspicua, X. E. Br. A succulent tree 15-50 ft. high, 

 leafless and spiny, with a trunk 1-2J ft. thick. Branches and branchlets 

 more or less whorled, radiately spreading and ascending-curved, with 

 the trunk and main branches 3-8-angled, narrowed to tlie distant con- 

 strictions ; branchlets mostly 3-angled, 1-1 i in. broad across each face; 

 angles wing-like, sinuately toothed, with the teeth J-1^ lin. ;ipart and 

 projecting 1 J-2 lin., bearing a pair of dark brown diverging .spines 

 1-3 lin. long on a dark brown horny shield which is decurrent to an 

 acute point 1^-3 lin. below the spines. Flowering-eyes 2-2^ lin. above 

 the spines, separate or sometimes connected with the spine-shields by a 

 horny border. Cymes 1-3 at each eye, crowded at the ends of the 

 branchlets, with stout glabrous peduncles about 5 lin. long. Involucres 

 apparently 2J-3 lin. in diam., but all damaged by insects on the speci- 

 mens seen, red {Welwitsch). — E. Candelabrum, Welw. in Annaes Con- 

 .selho Ultramar. Lisb. no. 24 (1856), 251, n. 5; Hiern in Cat. Afr. 

 PI. Welw. i. 946. Euphorbia, Monteiro, Angola, i. 24, 27, 29, t. 1. 



ZiO'wer Guinea. Angola: Loanda, H^ehvitsch, 64-1 ! coast region to about 20 

 miles inland, plentiful, ex Monteiro. 



Probably Welwitsch, 037 and B-tlB, from near Maugur and Candxunba in Puugo 

 Andongo, and 636 from the Chella Mountains in liunibo, also beloi g to tli s species, 

 but good flowering and fruiting material are wanting for correct identification. 



Imperfectly kiiuvm species. 



191. E. berotica, N. E. Br. A dwarf succulent .shrub about 2 ft. 

 high, leafless and spinele.ss. Rootstock thick, horizontal. Stems and 

 branches erectly spreading, 1^-2 J lin. thick in the specimen seen, 

 glabrous, yellowish-green, glaucous ; branches apparently few (the 

 specimen is 13 in. long and bears 2 branches below the middle), alternate, 



