11 



PLATE 259. 



Myrsine melanophlbos, R. Br. (Prod. 533), 

 Natural Order, Mtesine^. 



A tree reaching 10 to 20 feet in height. Trunk cylindrical, bark grey, thiok^ 

 even ; branches erect, spreading, terete, glabrous, often thickly covered with lenti- 

 cels. Leaves thickly disposed near ends of branches, scattered, exstipulate, 

 shortly petiolate, oblong, obovate, or sometimes oblanceolate, quite entire, narrowed 

 to base, obtuse or slightly emarginate at apex, glabrous, thick and coriaceous,, 

 dark green above, lighter beneath, punctate above, minutely and thickly dotted 

 beneath, midvein very conspicuous, secondary veins obscure. Inflorescence in few 

 flowered fascicles, which are spread on ends of branches, and borne on thickened, 

 woody, scaly, arrested branchlets. Fascicles 1 to 10-flowered. Pedicels thickened, 

 1^ to 2 lines long. Calyx gamosepalous, 5-cleft, segments obtuse, ^ line long. 

 Corolla gamopetalous, 5-cleft nearly to base, lobes oblong, finely ciliate, and glan- 

 dular near apex on inner surface. Stamens 5, on corolla lobes near the base, and 

 opposite to them, subsessile, included, anthers 2-celled, oblong. Style very short, 

 stigma capitate or conical, longitudinally ribbed, very large. Ovary 1 -celled. 

 Drupe about the size of a large pea, 1-seeded; seed with a hard pericarp. 



Habitat : Natal : Inanda, 2,000 feet alt, June, Wood No. 588 ; near Durban,. 

 250 feet alt, June, Wood No. 8278 ; Drakensberg, Fourcade ; Gerrard Sf McKen in 

 Government Herbarium, without number or locality. Cape Colony, Table Moun- 

 tain ; Forests of Swellendam, and Eastern Province. Also found in Upper 

 Guinea. 



Mr. Fourcade says of this tree : — 



" A tree 1 to 2 feet in diameter, 40 to 60 feet high, with a straight cylindrica, 

 trunk. Bark light grey, thick, even, often studded with small lenticels. Wood 

 moderately heavy and hard, moderately strong and elastic, rather brittle, not 

 durable exposed to the weather ; annual rings obscure, medullary rays broad, con- 

 spicuous ; pores small, numerous, distributed chiefly in short radial lines ; colour 

 white, the medullary rays light red brown ; used for yoke keys, various wagon 

 work, furniture, and poles for roofing." 



We have never found it more than 20 feet in height, but in the forests of the 

 Drakensberg it most likely attains a larger size. It is known to the natives as 

 isi-Qulabahlati, and to the Dutch colonists as Boekenhout. 



Fig. 1, flower; 2, calyx; 3, two lobes of corolla, showing insertion of stamens; 

 4, ovary, style and stigma ; 5, fruit ; all enlarged. 



