47 



N. Ord. RUTACE.E. 

 Tribe Diosmece. 



Genus Barosma, Willd. 



47. Barosma serratifolia, Willd. Enum. Plant, p. 257 (1809). 

 Bucclm. Buchu. Bucco. Buku. 



Syn Diosma serratifolia, Curtis & others. Baryosma serratifolia, 

 JR. & S. Adenandra serratifolia, Link. Parapetalifera serrata, 

 Bartl & Wendl. 



Figures. Nees, t. 378; Berg & Sch., t. 2 a; Bot. Mag., t. 456. 



Description. An erect shrub, several feet high, with slender, 

 straight, angular branches; bark smooth, purplish-red. Leaves 

 imperfectly opposite, very shortly stalked, 1 1J inch long, 

 linear-lanceolate, tapering to either end, the actual apex truncate- 

 obtuse, margin sharply and closely serrate with glands in the 

 serratures, under surface paler, with scattered oil-glands, midrib 

 prominent, with 2 or 4 lateral veins, lower pair often running 

 almost to the apex and giving the leaf a 3-ribbed appearance. 

 Flowers as in B. crenulata, Hook., but petals always pure white ; 

 anthers purple before dehiscence. Fruit and seed as in the other 

 species. 



Habitat. This kind of Buchu grows in the districts of George 

 and Swellendam to the east of Cape Town, in damp situations on 

 the mountain sides. It forms a neater bush than the other species, 

 and was at one time in cultivation in England as a green-house 

 shrub ; specimens in flower from Kew Gardens, 1795, are in the 

 British Museum. From B. crenulata the longer leaves with a 

 blunt point are a ready distinction. 



An allied Rutaceous shrub, Empleurum serrulatum, Ait., is some- 

 times imported as Buchu. Its leaf bears a strong similarity to 

 that of B. serratifolia, but is much longer and narrower, with the 

 sides parallel, the denticulations coarser, and the apex very acute. 



