Liberia <*- 



to be common in the eastern parts of Liberia, especially near 

 the sea-coast in rather marshy regions. 



The undergrowth in the Liberian woods offers many tall 

 herbs that belong to the Zingiberaceous order. These are 

 at once remarked for their handsome leaves, so often resem- 

 bling in miniature the fronds of a banana. The Amomum 

 (Slframomum) which produces Malagueta pepper has already 

 been described and pictured. Other amomums are equally 

 remarkable for beautiful flowers of pale pink, mauve, or white, 

 and for seed-capsules with a more or less edible pulp. The 

 closely allied Costus instead of producing its flowers separately 

 from the leaf stem, as is the case with the amomums, bears 

 a large white or mauve-tinted flower (with a golden centre) 

 at the end of a stem covered with leaf-like bracts and growing 

 high above the ground. According to Dr. Stapf the juice of 

 a Costus in the Cameroons is used as a reagent in coagulating 

 rubber. Renealmia is a tall shrub with a flower-stalk growing 

 separately, but close to the long, lance-shaped leaves. The 

 flowers are not particularly remarkable for beauty. They seem 

 to exude a gummy substance extraordinarily attractive to insects, 

 which are plastered all about them. 



A genus of the closely allied Marantace<e which is prominent 

 in the undergrowth of the Liberian forest is Sarcophrynium 

 brachystachyum^ which has very inconspicuous flowers, large red 

 or black fruits, and particularly handsome leaves. These at 

 once suggest the illustrations in books dealing with foliage 

 plants. They are of a bright glossy green with a tendency 

 to blackish markings down the centre. 



The ordinary cultivated Banana, both in the older type 

 of the plantain (the long fruit) and in the more recently intro- 

 duced form of short banana (from the West Indies), is commonly 

 cultivated throughout Liberia, but as yet no one has discovered 



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