23. Celastnis Bux if alius. Lin. {Cape-Box)— Branches diudi 

 branchlets compressed or angular, flexuose, usually spiny. Leaves 

 alternate, tufted, tapering into a petiole, obovate-oblong, blunt or 

 emarginate, crenate, very veiny, unequal at base, nearFy leathery, 

 smooth. Spines ash coloured, patent, strong, mostly naked but 

 occasionally leafy, seldom flower-bearing, and from 1 to 6 inches 

 long. Howers axillary, paniculate, white ; Panicles many- 

 flowered, cymose, stalked, as long or shorter as the leaves. Capsule 

 roundish, of the size of a pea, 



A variable shrub or small tree, 8-12 feet high and from 6-8 inches in 

 breadth. Ba?^k thin, greyish-white. TFbocZ yellowish, very close, hard 

 and heavy, resembling Boxwood^ and fit for the manufacture of musical 

 instruments, wood-eiigraviug, and all purposes for which Box is 

 commonly used. 



Grows in the bushes and woods in many parts of the Colony, from 

 Cape Town to Caffraria. Fi. Octob.— December. 



24. PterocelastrusTricuspidatus. Sond. {Spekhoom,') — Branches 

 erect, rough ; twixjs angular. Leaves crowded, obovate, blunt or 

 slightly emarginate at apex, cuneate and narrowed at base, 

 smooth, entire, obscurely veined, often unequal-sided, leathery. 

 tlomers cymose, axillary, minute, white. Capsule cartilaginous, 

 3 valved, 3 winged. 



Stem 8— 10 feet high ; 5 — 10 inches in diameter. Wood i^oit, light. 

 Used for making charcoal; also as fuel. 



Common on the sides of Table Mountain, in the Swellendam district, 

 and elsewhere. Fl. Octob. 



25. Pterocelastrus Variabilis. Sond. {Cherry-wood; Ker- 

 sehout) — Branches erect; upper branchlets forked. Zeat-e^ short- 

 stalked, alternate, obovate-oblong or oval, blunt, sometimes 

 emarginate, more or less veined, narrowed at base, quite entire, 

 leathery, smooth. Flowers stalked, panicled, axillary, minute, 

 white. Panicles cymose, many-flowered, spreading, shorter than 

 the leaves. Capsule 3 winged, wings horny, ovate, its lobes either 

 blunt, pointed, or torn. 



A tree 20-25 feet high, and from 1, to 1| or more broad. Bark thin, 

 even, dark grey. Wood reddish, line-grained, hard, heavy, and hand- 

 somely veined. It would answer well for turner}^ cabinet-making and 

 other purposes, and might be fairly tried for railway works. 



Common in the forests throughout a great portion of the Colony, from 

 Swellendam to British Caffraria. Fl. October. 



26. Pterocelastrus Rostratus, WaljJ. {White Pear , Witpeer.) 

 — Branches and twigs erect, purplish, angular, spreading. Leaves 

 stalked, alternate, oblong-lanceolate, obtuse or bluntly pointed, 

 reflexed at the margins, entire, leathery, smooth. Flowers white, 

 paniculated. Panicles long-stalked, axillary, dichotomously 



c 



