33 , 



reticulated, and renders it useful for ornamental furniture, picture frames, 

 &c. It is sometimes employed for fellies, ploughs, &c. The bruised 

 leaves mixed with a saturated solution of iron in water, produce a 

 tolerably good, black writing ink. The bark which furnishes a superior 

 article for tanning, is used as an astringent in diarrhoea, and good 

 charcoal is often made of the wood. Abundant in many parts of tlie 

 Western districts, and particularly comman in Ilout Bay. Fl April. 



91. Leucospermum Conocarpum. R. Br. (Kreupelboom.) 

 — Branches spreading, very hairy. Leaves sessile, oval, rigid, 

 veiny, calloso-dentate towards the top, villose at base. Flowers 

 hermaphroditical, capitate, terminal, yellow. Capitula many- 

 flowered, involucrated. Involucres im\)\'\QdiiQ()i, persistent; scales 

 ovate, pointed, recurved, villose on the outside, smooth within. 

 Perianth irregular, 2 partite, bearded. Stamens 4; 5^?//e filiform ; 

 stigma thick, elongated, unequal-sided, smooth. Nut one-seeded, 

 glabrous, white. 



Stem from 6 to 8 feet high, and from 4 to 6 inches in diameter; 

 dwarfish, with a flat, broad top. Bark brown, thick, cragged. Wood 

 reddish, tough but soft ; looking well when varnished. In the Colony 

 it 13 sometimes used for wagon fellies, but oftener for making charcoal, 

 and for fuel. The bark furnishes one of the best materials in the tanning 

 of skins, and a decoction of it is recommended as a powerful astringent. 



Common near Cape Town and in other parts of the Colony. Fl. 

 September. — October. 



92. Braheium Stellati folium. R. Br. {Wild Almond; 

 Wilde Amandelhoom. ) — Branches purplish, villose at top. Leaves 

 whorled, petiolate, lanceolate, acute, serrato dentate, rigid, veiny, 

 smooth, green above, pale and netted beneath. Petioles very- 

 short. Flowers polygamous, fascicled, spiked, white, sweet- 

 scented, supported by 07ie common bract. Spikes axillary ; 

 peduncles tomentose. Perianth 4 leaved, regular ; stamina 4 ; 

 style filiform, vertical. Fruit dry, one-seeded ; kernel bony. 



Stem from 8 to 10 feet high, and from ^ to 1^ feet broad. Bark 

 thick, greyish-brown. Wood red, reticulated, looking extremely hand- 

 some when polished, and fit to be used for ornamental joiner's and 

 turner's work. As yet is has been little employed except as firewood. 

 The bark of this proteaceous plant also contains a great deal of the 

 tanning principle. The fruit, a drupe, is clothed in a velvety coat, and 

 has received the vernacular name from its striking similarity to the 

 almond. After having been soaked for some days in water, it is eaten 

 by the natives, being obnoxious* when quite fresh. The kernel, when 

 roasted, is used as coffee. 



*A fatal case of poisoning caused by tlie eating of the Wild Almmidm its raw state 

 has just (May, 1862) occurred at Genadeudal, where the shrub grows in abundance. 

 A little girl, 6 years, ol age having pai'taken of a quantity of this fruit, shortly 

 afterwards complained of nausea and headache, followed by vomiting, purging, and 

 pains in the stomach and abdomen. Dr. Roser who was sent for three hours after 

 F 



