370 LV, PLECTRONIACES. [ Plectronia 
There seems little doubt but that Linneus had a specimen 
of the genus under consideration when he described Plectronia 
for the Mantissa (1767), for his description and the specimen in 
his herbarium, subscribed in his own writing with the name 
Plectronia ventosa, now at the Linnean Society, both establish this 
view; he, however, complicated the matter by quoting a plate 
from Burmann of a plant in fruit which appears to belong to 
Canthium in Rubiacee, though he implied that he had not seen 
the plant figured in Burmann. In this way some authors have 
sunk the name of Canthiwn and substituted for it that of 
Plectronia for the Rubiaceous genus, while Olinia of Thunberg 
has been generally used for the true Plectronia L. 
The structure has been fully discussed by Decaisne, “ Sur les 
caractéres et les affinités des Oliniées,” in 1877; by Baillon, 
“Nouvelles Observations des les Olinia” in 1878; and by Gilg 
in Engler and Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam., in 1892. The number 
of species comprised in the genus is variously estimated as from 
1 to5or6. The most recent opinion agrees with several early 
ones, that these plants constitute a distinct natural order,which 
has been called Oliniacee; but if the name Olinia must be 
discontinued for the genus, a corresponding change is obviously 
suggested in the case of the Order. 
LVI. PUNICACEX. 
1, PUNICA Tournef, L. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Pl. i. p. 784. 
1. P. Granatum L. Sp. Pl. edit. 1, p. 472 (1753); Welw. in 
Journ. Linn. Soe. v. p. 184 (1861) ; Hiern in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. 
ii. p. 486; Ficalho, Pl. Uteis, p. 185 (1884). 
GoLunGco ALTO.—A small tree or large shrub, much branched, 8 to 
12 feet high ; fruit of moderate size. Cultivated and spontaneous, but 
not indigenous, in the old garden of the Italian missionaries at the 
convent of Bango Aquitamba and in thickets ; fl, and young fr. 1 May 
1856, called ‘“‘ Romeira” or “ Ramanzeira.” No. 2333. 
LVII. LYTHRACEZ. 
The Angolan Lythracee consist chiefly of low annual herbs, 
rather rare in the coast region up to 1000 feet of altitude and 
little frequent in the mountainous region ranging from 1000 to 
2400 feet, but abundant in the marshy lands and moist meadows 
in the neighbourhood of the river Cuanza from Pungo Andongo to 
Quisongo. Though the greater part of the species consist of plants 
so small that with reason they might be considered as the pigmies of 
the Angolan flora, yet some among them do not fail in elegance, 
and others are remarkable for the red or crimson colour with 
which their stems, leaves and calyxes at the time of fructification 
are tinged ; and when seen from afar they resemble purple carpets 
spread over the green meadows. See Welwitsch, Apontamentos, 
p. 569, n. 168. 
