XL. AMPELIDE^. 153 



not only when flowering, but also and still more when laden with 

 their ripe many-coloured grapes — green, violet, bluish, red, etc. 



In Benguella the Ampelidete are also represented rather abund- 

 antly, nine species occurring ; but they influence the physiognomy 

 of the vegetation but little or not at all, as the specimens of the 

 respective species occvir not only singly and never in quantity, but 

 also because the more striking forms, such as Cissus aralioides, 

 C andongensis, G. jatrojjhoides, and especially the magnificent 

 Leea guineensis, are here entirely absent. 



Many species bear edible grapes in Angola, but their taste is 

 not very agreeable ; species with edible fruits occur also in Huilla, 

 but they are far rarer than in Golungo Alto and Pungo Andongo. 

 Some species, especially Cissus pruriens, bear fruits which taste 

 tolerably good, but are covered with small hairy glands and excite 

 in the mouth and throat after chewing them a long-continued 

 burning and itching ; the berries of this species are so much more 

 dangerous to the traveller, as they are of a very beautiful dark 

 purple colour, very juicy and good-tasted, and as the consequences 

 of eating them are manifested only after a time. During the 

 journey from Lopollo to the great lake of Ivantala towards 

 Quilengues, Welwitsch and several of his companions bitterly 

 experienced the painful consequences of the enjoyment of this 

 fruit, only too tempting in hot regions : all of them who had 

 tasted the berries were afterwards attacked with a vehement 

 burning of the throat, which lasted an hour. 



The pulpy species and those with bottle-shaped stems are 

 peculiar to the littoral region ; those with tomentose stems are 

 mostly found in the highland region. 



The species which are most polymorphous are those with simple 

 but lobed leaves, and it is often difficult to decide whether the 

 leaves should be called simple or compound, as in different indi- 

 viduals of the same species the lobes are often split down to the 

 apex of the petiole, and thus a 3- or 5-foliolate leaf is simulated. 

 Much depends upon the circumstance whether the individual 

 grows in the shade or in sunny places, amongst trees or shrubs or 

 in the open steppes or in the forest ; many climbers or creepers 

 become in open ground nearly erect and do not form tendrils, and 

 reversely ; leaves on young and rather young individuals are often 

 very different from those on the old and fruiting branches ; even 

 the stems frequently assume in old plants quite a different 

 dress and form. On the other hand, the form of the calyx and 

 corolla, as well as of the disk and glands, appears to remain very 

 constant, but not in numerical relations, since tetramerous and 

 pentamerous flowers frequently occur in the same individuals. 



Species with 5-foliolate leaves often have at the extremities of 

 the branches, both at the upper and lower parts of the plant, 

 3-foliolate leaves. There is a well-marked group, however, which 

 has regularly trifoliolate leaves, as Ehoicissus erythrodes and some 

 other species. 



No species in Angola ever becomes a tree, not even a small tree, 



