188 THE AFRICAN RUBBER VINES 



The characters of the principal African rubber vines 

 are briefly given in the following descriptions. For 

 fuller particulars reference should be made to the section 

 on the Apocynaceae by Dr. Otto Stapf in the Flora of 

 Tropical Africa* 



Landolphia Heudelotii, A. DC. — This plant occurs both 

 as a shrub and as a climber with branched tendrils 

 (modified inflorescences). The leaves are oblong to 

 elliptic or sublanceolate, with obtusely subacuminate 

 or obtuse or subacute apex, and are obtuse or subacute 

 at the base ; 1 to 3 in. long and | to 1^ in. broad. The 

 flowers are strongly scented and are arranged in shortly 

 peduncled or sessile many-flowered corymbs or in 

 elongated panicles ; the corolla tube is whitish, slightly 

 tinged with yellow, and the lobes pm-e white. The fruit 

 is pear-shaped or globose, from 1 to 3 in. in diameter, 

 yellow, and has a coriaceous rind. 



Landolphia Heudelotii has not such a wide distribution 

 as some of the other species, being restricted to the 

 extreme western portion of tropical Africa. It is found 

 in the coastal regions of this area from Senegal to Sierra 

 Leone, and also occurs in the southern districts of the 

 French Sudan as far east as Bobo-Dioulasso, and in the 

 northern portion of the Ivory Coast. In the French 

 Sudan it occurs commonly as a bush on the dry lateritic 

 plains where there is no rainfaU for about six months 

 of the year, and appears to thrive under such conditions ; 

 in the forests of the coastal regions it develops as a vine. 

 The rubber which it furnishes is of very good quality. 

 Accordmg to Chevalier, 2,000 tons of rubber have been 

 obtained annually since 1895 from L. Heudelotii in French 

 West Africa. 



Landolphia oivariensis, Beauv.— A climbing shrub, fre- 

 quently attaining a large size, with long hook-branched ten- 

 drils (usually more or less modified inflorescences). The 

 leaves are oblong with acuminate or almost obtuse apex, 

 and are subobtuse or subacute at the base ; 3 to 6 in. 

 long and 1 to 3 in. broad. The flowers, which occur in 

 shortly peduncled, man^^-flowered panicles, are small and 

 white, but soon tiu-n brown. The fruit is spherical, 1 to 

 2^ in. in diameter, yellow mottled with red, and tlic woody 

 rind is wrinkled or irregularly grooved. (See Plate X.) 



* London : Lovell Reeve & Co., Ld., Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, 



