Liberia <- 



was received at Kevv about the same time, also through Sir H. H. 

 Johnston, and some more gathered on the St. Paul's River, about 

 thirty miles from the coast, were sent by Mr. H. Reynolds early last 

 year to Ke\v. 



Sir Harry Johnston has also himself collected and transmitted 

 a few specimens. 



Descriptions of fifty-eight novelties from Whyte's, Sim's, and 

 Reynolds's collections were published by me in the Journal of the 

 Linnean Society of London, vol. xxxvii. pp. 79-115, in July of last 

 year. 



I may add that there are a few plants collected in Liberia by 

 Carder, Millen, and others in the Kew Herbarium, but there are 

 no labels with them giving the precise localities where they were 

 collected. 



I have attempted to give as complete as possible an enumeration 

 of the plants contained in the collections referred to above, and I 

 believe it is a fair representation of what we know at present of 

 the flora of Liberia. 



Considering our very imperfect knowledge of the flora of Liberia, 

 and the almost total absence of information concerning the character 

 and distribution of the types of vegetation occurring in the country, 

 it would be premature to deal here more particularly with this 

 aspect of the vegetable world of Liberia. It may suffice to say 

 that it is evidently a section of the great natural region which 

 extends from the Senegal in the north to the Kunene in the south. 

 It seems to contain a certain local colouring due to the presence 

 of endemic species, but it is yet impossible to 'estimate precisely 

 the degree of specialisation. On the other hand, so much is certain 

 that the Liberian flora is in close relationship with that of Sierra 

 Leone. A great portion of the country is covered by dense forest 

 stretching across the country from west to east ; in places it reaches, 

 broken up in isolated patches, down to the sea, whilst more gener- 

 ally a narrow stretch of savannah and parkland is interposed 

 between the forest and the sea. The width of the forest belt 

 varies from 180 to 280 miles. To the north of it, savann.ih and 

 parkland seems to take its place ; this, however, is still botanically 

 terra incognita. 



I have endeavoured to be as precise as possible in the quotation 

 of the names of the plants, and the specimens which form the 



57 2 



