-> The Lil)erian Flora 



orange-coloured fruits of the size of a child's head and cncl<< 

 3 seeds; very common in the coast re-inn, S/r II. //. Johnston 

 (from photographs,) A palm of manifold use, the steins M -rvin^ 

 as timber, the leaves furnishing thatch and fibre for ropes, sieves, 

 and other similar articles, and the sap a kind of sweetish toddy. 

 whilst the outer fibrous part of the fruit is sucked on account 

 of its pleasant taste ; known to the Liberians as the " Fan palm." 

 This palm was, by Martius, separated as a distinct species 

 from the Indian Borassns Jlabcllifer on account of the thickening 

 of the stem below the leaf, a character which is said to be absent 

 in Indian specimens. 



Elaeis guineensis, Jacq. : the well-known " Oil palm " of \\Vst Africa ; 

 Monrovia and Grand Basa, Vogel ; Cape Palmas, Vogel, 65 ! 



Cocos nucifera, L. : the well-known coconut palm, the uses of which 

 are innumerable ; everywhere in the coast region, Sir //. //. 

 Johnston (from photographs). 



PANDANACE^E 



Pandanus candelabrum, Beauv. : a branched tree supported by aerial 

 roots with the spinous leaves in dense spirals (hence the 

 generic name " Screw-pine ") ; in swamps near Grand Basa 

 and on " dry ground" at Cape Palmas, according to Vogel. 



Anchomanes dubius, ScJiott : a tuberous-rooted heib with a solitary 

 prickly leaf, 2 3^ ft. long, having 3 pinnatisect or dichoto- 

 mously divided divisions and a long-peduncled boat-shaped pale 

 purplish or (within) cream-coloured spathe, 6 12 in. long, and 

 a slender spadix (up to 8 in. long) ; Liberia (from cultivated 

 specimens). 



Rhektophyllum mirabile, Maker: a climbing aroid ; in Liberian forests 

 (from drawing by Sir H. //. Johnston}. 



Nephthytis afzelii, Schott: a herb with a creeping root-stock and 

 2 3 sagittate long-peduncled leaves (with the basal lobes \ 

 to i ft. long), and broad obtuse green spathcs (2 2\ in. 

 long), with a slender cylindric spadix (\ in. by if in.); 

 Monrovia, Nauwann. 



*Culcasia liberica, N. E. Brown : a climbing herb with lanceolate 

 to elliptic leaves 8 9 in. long, and fascicled (7 8) more or 



66 1 



