li!rythrococca,'\ cxxii. EiTPHORBiACEiE (prain). 869 



petioled, membranous, narrow-ovate, acuminate, base cuneate, margin 

 remotely and shortly toothed, 1|-2J in. long, |-1 in. wide, dark green,, 

 paler beneath, glabrous except on the nerves above, densely pubescent on 

 the nerves, sparingly so elsewhere beneath ; petiole pubescent with 

 spreading hairs, \-\ in. long; stipules unmodified, hyaline-scarious, 

 minute. Flowers small, in peduncled racemes ; peduncles slender, 

 pubescent, males J in., females 1 in. long ; pedicels glabrous, males J in., 

 females j^^ in. long ; bracteoles small, ovate. Male calyx green, glabrous, 

 globose-conic in bud ; lobes 4, firmly membranous. Stamens 54 ; outer 

 10, the rest central ; filaments much shorter than the anthers ; glands 

 minute, hirsute, rhomboid, all inter-staminal. Female calyx 2-lobed. 

 Ovary glabrous, 2-celled ; stigmas minute, suborbicular, suberect, smooth, 

 at the apex of a thick columnar obovoid style 3-4 times as long as them- 

 selves. Disk shallow urceolate, shortly widely 2-lobed. Capsule and 

 seed not seen. — Claoxylon columnare, Miill. Arg. in Flora, 1864, 437, 

 and in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 776. 



Ito-wer Guinea. Princes Island : Mann,\\ZQ\ 



Very closely allied to E.ivehvitschiana,axn{ with almost identical female flowers, 

 but readily distinguished by the smaller, pubescent leaves. The male flowers of the 

 two differ considerably, those of E. welwitschiana being hardly distinguishable from 

 those of E. oleracea ; those of E. columnaris closely approaching those of E. Poggei. 



33. E. Poggel) Prain in Ann. Bot. xxv. G23. Shrub ; twigs pubes- 

 cent with soft spreading hairs ; bud-scales persistent. Leaves short- 

 petioled, membranous, narrow-ovate, acuminate, margin irregularly and 

 closely crenate-dentate, 2-2J in. long, 1 in. wide, dark green, paler 

 beneath, hispidulous on both surfaces especially on the nerves beneath 

 with spreading hairs; petiole hispidulous, J in. long ; stipules unmodi- 

 fied, hyaline-scarious, minute. Flowers small, in peduncled racemes; 

 peduncles slender, hispidulous, 1-1 J in. long ; pedicels glabrous, \ in. 

 long; bracteoles subulate, ^^ m. long. Male calyx green, glabrous, 

 globose-conic in bud ; lobes 4, membranous. Stamens 60-G4 ; outer 10, 

 the rest central ; filaments much shorter than the anthers ; glands 

 minute, hirsute, rhomboid, all inter-staminal. Female flower and 

 fruit not seen. — Claoxylon Poggei, Prain in Kew Bulletin, 1911, 93. 

 C. columuare, Engl, in Sitz. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. xxxviii. (1908) 829; 

 Th. (k Hel. Durand, Syll. Fl. Congol. 656 ; not of Mull. Arg. 



iLower Guinea. l^ower Congo: between Dembo and the River Kwango, 

 Butaye ! Stanley Pool district ; near Lazaret, Vanderyst ! 



Soutb Central. Belgian Congo: Luiilaba-Kasai district; Mukenge, Pogge^ 

 1373 ! 



Owing to the absence of female flowers the affinity of this species remains 

 doubtful, but from the great similarity which the male flowers bear to those of 

 E. columnaris it is best placed provisionally near that species, from the male of which 

 it only differs in having a hispidulous in place of an adpressed pubescence nnd in 

 having longer bracteoles. 



34. E. atrovirens, Prain in Ann. Bot. xxv. 623. Shrub 3-5 ft. 

 high ; twigs pubescent ; bud -scales persistent. Leaves short-petioled, 

 membranous, oblong or rarely wide-ovate, acuminate, base narrow- to 



