JIaprounea.] cxxii. euphorbiace^ (prain). 1003 



•Ovary ovoid. Capsule red, globose, about ^ in. across. Seeds black, 

 •ovoid, irregularly rugulose, ^ in. long ; caruncle vermilion, as lar^e as 

 the body of the seed. — 31. africana, Pax ex Durand i De Wild. 

 Oontrib. Fl. Congo, i. 52; De Wild. & Durand, Reliq. Dewevr. 213; 

 De Wild. Etudes Fl. Bas- et Moyen-Congo, i. 279, wholly, and ii. 2H9, 

 partly (Moanda and Eala specimens only) Th. & H61. Durand, Svll. Fl. 

 Congol. 490, partly : not of MUll. Arg. M. hridelioides, Pierre MSS. 



Upper Guinea. Cameroons; Batauga, Dinhlage, 1425! Bipinde Ztnher, 

 2086! 2412! 2557! 3003! 3436! 



Iiower Guinea. Spanish Guinea: Bebao, Tewwanra, 670 ! Gahoon: Libre- 

 ville, Klaine, 108! 148! 332! 584! 6430! Frencli Congo: Modgaka, rAo//o», 

 37! Kitobi, Leeom^e, B 65 ! Brazzaville, C^eu«Zt>r, 6008 ! Lower Congo : Bnnaua ; 

 Moaiida, Gillet, 4070! Stanley Pool district; near Leopoldville, Qillet ! 



Soutb Central. Belgian Congo: Equatorial Prov, ; Eula, Pynaert, 12611 

 1327! Seret,^2(i\ Bang-ala district; Bangala, Deweure, 877 ! 



A very distinct species whose features have been well elucidated by its authors, 

 and also by Pierie, who has issued an excellent series of analytical drawiiiirs, but 

 whose unpublished name has unfortunately not been taken up. Pax and Hoffmann 

 think the species is perhaps more nearly allied to the American than to the other 

 African forms ; Pierre has considered it equally distinct from both, and lias suggested 

 that it may be treated as the type of a distinct section which he has named 

 Spharandra. It is to be noted that in the Cameroons and in Spanish Guinea the 

 spikes appear, as Pax and Hoffmann state, to be always 1-sexual and the plants to 

 be usually dioecious. In the Gaboon, however, and in the Hanana district of the 

 Belgian Congo, while the spikes appear to be usually 1-sexual, the plants are 

 usually monoecious. In the French Congo, on the other hand, and in the Belgian 

 Congo from Stanley Pool eastwards, it is unusual to find a specimen witiiout some 

 androgynous spikes. 



2. M. gracilis, Dewevre MSS. in Herb. Britx. A shrub 5-7 ft. 

 .high, all parts glabrous ; ultimate twigs passing into the inflorescence 

 1-1^- in. long. Leaves short-petioled, thinly membranous, with age 

 becoming firmly papery, ovate-lanceolate or ovate, obtuse, base rounded 

 or faintly cordate, margin entire, |-lj in., very rarely 2 in. long, 

 J-1 in. wide, glaucescent beneath, finely nerved and reticulate ; petiole 

 slender, J-J in. long ; stipules small, triangular. Inflorescence u.sually 

 2-sexual ; male portion globose or subglobose, i in. long, dense-flowered ; 

 female flowers 1-2, basal, long-pedicelled, pedicels in fruit up to j in. 

 long ; male braces lanceolate, acute, each 8-flowered, with 2 simple or 

 occasionally 2-partite basal glands; bracts and flowers greenish-yellow. 

 Male calyx irregularly 2-8-lobed. Stamens 2-3, exserted. Ovary 

 subglobose. Capsule red, globose, about J in. (rarely J in.) across. 

 ^eeds dark slate-grey or dull black, subglobose, smooth, I in. long; 

 caruncle half as large as the body of the seed. — M. africana, Pax ex 

 Durand k De Wild, .in Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg. xxxvii. 107, wholly ; 

 Th. t Hel. Durand, Syll. Fl. Congol. 499, partly: not of Miill. Arg. 

 M. africa7ia, var. oUnsa, Pax I.e., and Th. &l Hel. Durand, I.e. o(H), partly 

 (as to Laurent 14 only). M. africana, var. gracilis, Paxtfc K. Hufl'm. in 

 Engl. Pflanzenr. Euphorb.-Hippoman. 179. 



Upper Guinea. Cameroons: Tibati, 3000 ft., ietfer/nann, 2435 ! 



