BITTER KOLA BITTER WOOD DRAGON'S BLOOD. 185 



BITTER KOLA of Fernando Po. The common Bitter Kola (Cola 1871. 

 Nuts), largely used by the natives of West Tropical Africa, is 

 known to be the produce of a wide-spread tree Cola acumin- 

 ata, Br., but the origin of the Bitter Kola of Fernando Po is still 

 uncertain. There can be no doubt that it is the seed of a Gut- 

 tifer (Garcinia or Xanthochymus), so it must be sought on a tree 

 with strictly opposite leaves ; the seeds probably contained in a . 

 pulpy fruit. 



BALSAM OF ST. THOMAS is the name of a tree growing in the 

 island of St. Thomas, in the Gulf of Guinea. Specimens in 

 flower and fruit, also of the resin, if it afford such, with inform- 

 ation as to the mode of procuring it, would be acceptable. It is 

 probably a species of Sorindeia. 



BITTER WOOD. A species of Quassia (Q. Africana, Baill.) is 

 found in the Gaboon and Camaroons rivers. Specimens of the 

 wood are required to show whether it may serve as a substitute 

 for the Tropical American species (Q. amara). 



What is the Kpokpoka tree of West Tropical Africa, from the 

 fibre of which the " dodo " cloth is prepared ? Specimens in 

 flower are wanted. 



Specimens in flower or fruit of any shrubs or trees of Upper 

 Guinea, affording elastic gums, india-rubber or gutta-percha, with 

 accompanying gum and mode of its collection, are particularly 

 requested. 



AFRICA EAST COAST, INCLUDING THE EED SEA, ARABIA, 

 AND MADAGASCAR. 



MYRRH, vide page 175. 

 OLIBANUM, vide page 174. 

 KORARIMA CARDAMOM, vide page 174. 



DRAGON'S BLOOD, of the Island of Socotra By what plant is 

 it afforded ? 



CATHA EDULIS, called in Arabic Kdt. A large supply of the 

 dried leaves of this shrub, say one hundred pounds, should be 

 procured for chemical examination. The plant grows in Southern 

 Arabia and in Abyssinia. 



