356 LII, COMBRETACES. [Illigera 
with its lobes and scarcely exceeding them ; stamens 5, inserted with 
and alternate to the petals ; filaments cylindrical, rather thick, free at 
the base, with 2 shorter whitish fleshy sub-spathulate rather turgid 
staminodes between them; anthers large, 2-celled, inserted on both 
sides of the dilatedly capitate connectives, lateral, dehiscing with 
ellipsoidal yellow ear-shaped bent-back valves ; cells opposite, bursting 
in an elastic manner by means of a membrane; pollen large, golden- 
tawny, globose ; ovary inferior, 1-celled, 1-ovuled; style central, a 
little longer than the stamens, funnel-shaped ; stigma thickened with 
a flexuous edge; fruit samaroid. Abundant but sporadic, at the 
borders of primitive forests among the mountains of Serra de Alto 
Queta and of Quilombo ; in fl. bud beginning of Dec. 1855, fl. Jan. 
and Feb. 1856, in young fr. beginning of Oct. 1855, fr. March 1856, and 
fully ripe fr. Sept. 1856. No. 1753. Cou. Carp. 552 and 973. 
By some misunderstanding these specimens were placed in the Flora 
of Tropical Africa, ii. p. 436, under Gyrocarpus Jacquini Roxb. 
LI. MYRTACE. 
Africa is but little favoured with the natural occurrence of 
Myrtacee : Welwitsch reckoned that only from 1 to 1} per cent. 
of the whole number of species in the world had been found 
native in that continent. This is the more surprising, since 
several species grow with exuberance and produce excellent fruit, 
while the soil and climate of tropical Africa have proved to 
be very favourable to all the introduced species. In Angola the 
indigenous species are by no means numerous, but it is probable 
that they will be found more abundant in the countries lying to 
the east. Most of the species are small trees belonging to the 
genus Hugenia ; many occur in the form of low shrubs in places 
cleared by the cutting down of forest trees for the purpose of 
cultivation and afterwards abandoned. It is worthy of mention 
that the vast quantity of the Guava trees which are met with 
constitute occasionally dense forests, as, for instance, on many 
islands situate in the river Quanza, and principally on those of 
Quitage, Bumba, and Calemba; their fruits are equal in colour 
and fragrance to the guavas actually cultivated, but they are 
much larger and better flavoured. It will require a careful investi- 
gation to be made in the more remote interior of the continent in 
order to solve the problem whether these trees, which are reported 
to be really natives of America, are, however, indigenous in 
Africa, or are only the results of previous cultivation, and 
consequently are due to introduction in ancient times. 
Nearly the same doubt respecting its true origin presents itself 
in relation to an arborescent species, not apparently distinct from 
Hugenia Jambos L., which is met with at the banks of brooks, 
constituting extensive thickets in and about forest ravines in Alto 
Queta, a high mountainous range of Golungo Alto, and which 
grows in great quantity in neglected stations remote from dwell- 
ings, and appears to be really indigenous in that region. The 
typical form of the species, which is the Jamboeiro of the Portu- 
guese colonists, is not very common, and Welwitsch was unable 
