Elceophorbia.] cxxii. euphoiibiace.e (BumvN). 005 



Euphoib. 06, fig. 8. A\ grandifolia, Haw. Syn. PI. Succ. 130. A'. 

 toxicaria, Afzel. ? ex Steud. Nomencl. Bot. ed. 2, i. (5 15. E. Ixenouardi, 

 Pax in Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, viii, 61, and in Engl. Jahrb. xxxiv. 

 6^. E. Juvoklanti, Pax in Engl. Jahrb. xliii. 80. 



Upper Guinea. Guinea, Thonning. Sierra Leone, cultivated specimen ! 

 Gold Co.ist: common on tlie Accra Plains, Johnson, 60.5! 1053 1 Kpong, Fanuar, 

 'ISO! Dahomey, Poiwow. Cameroons : Mare, Ledennann, 1239 \ ^\i\sh\ti\, Leder- 

 manii, 5343 1 Bebao, Tessmann, h91 \ Togo; Kersting,24!\ Doering, 307 I 



XiO'wer Guinea. Con^^o Uegion, Lecomte (ex Fax). 



Mr. Johnson notes that the flowers are greenish and the plant produces " pas'e 

 rubber." it closely resembles Euphorbia Teke^ Schweinf. Probably Welwitsch, 

 615, from the Islnnd of St. Thomas, and 645b, from Princes Island, belong lo 

 this specii'S, but the si)ecimens consist of a few leaves only. See Hi(a-n in Cat. Afi-. 

 I'l. VVelw. i. 944. 



The Herlin Herbarium contains a specimen of Euphorbia grandifolia, Ha*\ ., 

 ctjltivati'd at Berlin in 1858, from Sierra Leone, whicli is most prol»al)ly cornctlv 

 named, and although there are neither flowers nor fruit up;)n it, tlie character of the 

 spines, leaf-scars, and form and apicidation of tlie leaves agree so exactly with those 

 of Elceophorbia drupifera as to leave no doubt that Euphorbia grandifolia, Haw., is 

 a synonym of that species. The only other known plants with whicli it might be 

 confused are Euphorbia Teke^ Schweinf., and E. leonensis, N. E. Br., from Sieri-a 

 Leoue, hut the spines, leat-scirs, and apiculaiion of the leaves are not (juite ihr 

 same as in the formei-, and the latter differs in its subsessile cymes. Structni-ally 

 also, when not in frnit, the thick fleshy walls of the young ovary will always 

 distiiignish Elaophorbia from the Euphorbias, in which they are much thinner and 

 less flesliy. 



6. DICHOSTEMMA, Pierre in Bull. Soc. Linn. Paris, 189(1, 12.")!). 



Apparent flower consisting of an entire cup-like 4-angIed involucre, 

 divided into 4 compartm'^nts by -4 thick cuneate-obovate partition-like 

 glands, without a gland or glands on or around its margin and without 

 inner lobes in the compartments ; sometimes all the involucres of an 

 inflorescence male, containing a group of 5-10 stamens (really male 

 dowers as in Euphorbia, each with a small cup-like peiianth just above the 

 articulation) in each compartment, mingled with a similar number of 

 bracteoles ; sometimes the terminal involucre of some of the branchlets 

 bisexual, with a 4-angled 4-celled pedicellate ovary (really a female 

 flower, as in Euphorbia, with a small cup-like 4-angled perianth at the b;\se 

 of the ovary) erect in its centre, surrounded by the 4 compartments 

 full of stamens ; ovule solitary in each cell, pendulous ; styles 4, united 

 at the base, stout, emargiuate or shortly bifid at the apex. Fruit a 

 4-celled capsule; cells separating at maturity from the central persistent 

 axis and opening along their inner face into 2 hard valves. Seeds 

 ellipsoid or subglobose, without a caruncle ; testa crustaceous ; embryo 

 straight, with flat cotyledons, enclosed in copious albumen. — A small 

 tree with milky juice. Leaves alternate, simple, exstipulate or the 

 stipules very rudimentary. Panicles terminal, unisexual or bisexual. 



Species 1, endemic. 



In structure the involucre really consists of 8 bracts more or less fused together : 

 an outer series of 4, forming 4 pocket-like cavities at the corners containing the 



