690 cxxii. EUPiiORBiACEiE (uutcuinson). [Lingelskeimia. 



30. LINQEL8HEIMIA, Pax in Engl. Jahib. xliii. 317. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious. Petals absent. Male flowers : 

 Sepals 4 or a, imbricate. Stamens 8-25, 2- to several -seriate, inserted 

 on and between the lobes or folds of the disk, lobes frequently surround- 

 ing the base of each filament and resembling a small perianth ; filaments 

 free ; anthers erect ; cells parallel or diverging at the base, dehiscing 

 longitudinally. Rudimentary ovary not present. Female flowers : 

 Sepals 4-7. Disk hypogynous, annular, entire or crenulate. Ovary 

 2-3-celled ; styles short or absent, when present bifid ; stigmas some- 

 times sessile and bilobed ; ovules 2 in each cell. Fruits (where known) 

 globose, indehiscent ; pericarp thick, crustaceous ; endocarp hard. 

 Seeds solitary by abortion ; albumen copious, fleshy ; embryo straight ; 

 cotyledons flat and broad, cordate at the base. — Shrubs. Leaves alter- 

 nate, coriaceous or chartaceous, entire or toothed; stipules entire. 

 Male and female flowers axillary, fasciculate, borne on the young leafy 

 branchlets, males pedicellate, females pedicellate or subsessile. 



Species 5, endemic. 



Flowers inona?cioTis . . . . . . . 1. i. frutescens. 



Flowers dioecious. 



Pedicels of the male Howevs very slender, 2-3 in. long 2. L. cajiillipes. 

 Pedicels of the male Howers less than \ in. in length, 

 Onu half of tlie leaf-blade produced below the other 

 at the base. 

 Flowers pedicellate ; sepals glabrous outside . 3. L. gilgianu. 

 Flowrrs sosilo; sopals tomeiitellous outside . 4. L. tesamanniana. 



Both halves of the leaf-blade produced at the base to 



the same jwint on the petiole . . . . 5. i. parrifolia. 



1. L. frutescens, Pax in Engl. Jahrh. xliii. 317. A shrub up to 

 7 ft. high ; branches slightly angular, glabrous ; flowering branchlets 

 spreading, glabrous. Leaves oblong, oblong-oblanceolate or obovate- 

 elliptic, shortly and rather abruptly acuminate, cuneate at the base, 

 1^-5 in. long, |-2 in. broad, thinly chartaceous, entire, glabrous and 

 dull on both surfaces; lateral nerves ti-H on each side, spreading, 

 becoming fainter and looped near the margin, distinct on both surfaces, 

 prominent below ; veins very lax ; petiole 2-4 lin. long, glabrous ; 

 stipules peltate, persistent, ovate, about 1 lin. long, coriaceous, glabrous. 

 Flowers monoecious, in axillary fascicles on the young shoots, two or 

 three subsessile females surrounded by a few pedicellate males. Male 

 flowers : Sepals 5, ovate, obtuse, J lin. long, glabrous. Stamens about 

 15; filaments glabrous; anthers small. Disk lobed on the upper 

 surface, glabrous. Female flowers mature before the males in each 

 cluster : Sepals 6-7, ovate, obtuse, subcoriaceous, glabrous. Disk 

 annular, fleshy, crenulate, glabrous. Ovary ellipsoid, lobed, glabrous ; 

 styles thick, bilobed, lobes recurved, glabrous. Fruit'not known. 



South Central. Belgian Congo: Bulika, between Muwambi and Awakubi, 

 Mildbraed, 3203 ! 



