842 cxxii. EUPHORBiACEiE (prain). [Mo/nihot. 



Gold Coast, 1908, 24 (precosa) ; Thomps. Rep. For. Gold Coast, 1910, 12 

 {jyrecosa)] Kew Bulletin, 1910, 96. 



Native of Brazil, rather widely cultivated as a rubber plant in Tropical Africa. 

 Tlie Jeqtiie Rubber or Jequie Manitoba. 



As figured by Hemsley, the leaves in seedlings of this species are peltate as in 

 M. Olaziovii. 



4. M. utilissima, Pohl, PI. Bras. Ic. et Descr. i. 32, t. 24. Shrub, 

 6-10 ft. liigh, twigs glabrous; root tuberous, 3 ft. long, 6-9 in. thick, 

 weighing 5-25 lbs., bitter and charged with a noxious juice or sweet 

 and harmless. Leaves long-petioled, membranous, the uppermost some- 

 times entire, ovate, acutely acuminate, rounded at the base, 4 in. long, 

 IJ in. wide, downwards progressively 3-7-lobed almost to the base, 

 rather broader than long, the largest reaching 10-12 in. in width ; lobes 

 linear-lanceolate, acutely acuminate, the central rather the largest, nar- 

 rowed to the base, and there confluent in a small web ^-| in. across, 

 each 3-7 in. long, J-1 J in. wide, tawny green above, glaucous beneath, 

 glabrous on both sides or more or less pubescent especially on the main 

 nerves near the base and especially beneath ; petiole 2J-10 in. long, 

 glabrous or faintly puberulous near the apex, green or purplish like the 

 main nerves ; stipules triangular-lanceolate, acuminate, puberulous, 2-^* 

 lin. long. Racemes lax, few-flowered, from the upper axils ; peduncle-* 

 slender, sometimes clustered, up to 2 in. long ; bracts small, linear- 

 lanceolate, entire, deciduous ; male pedicels 2-3 lin. long, female pedicels 

 spreading, up to 1 in. long. Calyx dirty yellow, campanulate, glabrous 

 and pruinose outside, puberulous within near the apex, 5-lobed beyond 

 the middle, male 2-2 J lin. long, female 5 lin. long. Stamens 10; 

 anthers small, with hairy tips. Disk glabrous. Ovary glabrous, nar- 

 rowly 6-winged. Capsule § in. long, wide ellipsoid, rugulose, with 6 

 undulate almost crenate wings. Seeds ellipsoid, compressed, marbled, 

 J in. long.— Bentl. and Trim. Med. PI. t. 235 ; Mull. Arg. in DC. Prodr. 

 XV. ii. 1064, and in Mart. Fl. Bras. xi. ii. 457, t. 65 ; Oliv. in Trans. 

 Linn. Soc. xxix. 148; Ficalho, PI. Uteis, 251 ; Pax in Engl. Pfl. Ost- 

 Afr. C. 240 ; Durand & Schinz, Etudes Fl. Congo, 244 ; Hiern in Cat. 

 Afr. PI. Welw. i. 973 ; De Wild. Miss. E. Laurent, 140, and Etudes 

 Fl. Bas- et Moyen-Congo, ii. 287 ; Dawe, Miss. Bot. Uganda, 56 ; Stapf 

 in Johnston, Liberia, ii. 649 ; Th. k Hel. Durand, Syll. Fl. Congol. 

 490 ; De Wild. Comp. Kasai, 338 ; Pax in Engl. Pflanzenr. Euphorb.- 

 Adrian. 67. M. palmata, var. Aipi^ Stapf in Johnston, Liberia, ii. 649, 

 hardly of Mull. Arg. Jatropha Manihot^ Linn. Sp. PI. ed. i. 1007. Jcmipha 

 Manihot, H. B. & K. Nov. Gen. et Sp. ii. 108 ; Bot. Mag. t. 3071. 



Native of Brazil, widely cultivated, in many races, throughout Tropical Africa, for 

 the sake of the flour of its tuberous root. 



The numerous recognisable races of the Cassava vary in size of plant, from 

 2-3 ft. up to 9-10 ft. high ; in colour of bark, from green or yellowish to violet, 

 brown or chestnut-brown ; in tint of foliage from pale green to deep violet ; in 

 nature of root, from sweet to bitter, with in each case intermediate conditions and in 

 most instances various combinations of the features mentioned. In addition to those 

 numerous races which differ among themselves by what may be termed relative 

 characters, there are two striking African forms, no counterparts of which hRve 



