ITreffuiia] cxvii. morace^. 1023 



-ellipsoidal, as large as a man's fist or usually a little larger than a 

 goose's egg and more globose, 1§ to 2|- in. in diameter when green, 

 beset with peltate very densely aggregated scales from the clefts or 

 inter-substanoe of which the antheriferous filaments emerge ; perianth 

 usually bifid ; the lobes erect, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, cUiolate on the 

 margin, a little thickened and somewhat fleshy below, whitish green ; 

 stamens always 2 in the flowers examined, opposite the perianth-lobes ; 

 filaments exserted, fleshy, straight ; anthers arcuate-oblong, dorsifixed, 

 comparatively large, persistent, sweetly fragrant, hard, somewhat rigid, 

 turning snow-white in drying; pollen copious; fruit a syncarpium, 

 immense, as large as a man's head, or twice as large, or the size of a 

 large pine-apple (one of the fruits brought in July from the Queta 

 mountains, the largest of 6, but still green outside and consequently 

 not quite ripe, measured a yard in vertical circumference), when ripe 

 yellowish outside, very rough, agreeably sweet-scented and somewhat 

 acidulous or vinous-aromatic, almost resembling a gigantic lemon, 

 ellipsoidal ; interior receptacle central, spherical, hard, woody, bearing 

 elongate-cuneate scales which are roundly peltate at the surface of the 

 fruit and among the viscid pulpy shafts of which the seeds are com- 

 pactly embedded ; seeds very numerous in the syncarpium, more than 

 1500 in a sin'gle one, edible when cooked, as large as those of Pinus 

 Pinea L. and not dissimilar in taste, sometimes boiled, sometimes 

 roasted or prepared like sweetmeats, and so eaten by negroes, especially 

 by the Mahungos, and also by the colonists, and used in the preparation 

 of a kind of almond-milk which is truly refreshing drink in these hot 

 countries, and alleviates in a very great degree the thirst of those 

 stricken down with fever. In the denser damp slopes of the primitive 

 forests of the Alto Queta mountains, about Sange, Bango, N-delle, etc., 

 and at the banks of the river Luinha, in deep valleys, not plentiful ; 

 male fl., April and May 1853, and from Nov. 1855 to Jan. 1856 ; ripe 

 fr. beginning of April and beginning of Aug. 1855 and Jan. 1856 ; 

 seedling, Feb. 1856. Native name " Dizanha." No. 2587 and Coll. 

 Caep. 902 to 904. 



Pttngo Andonuo. — A small tree, 10 to 15 ft. high. At the banks of 

 the river Cuanza, fr. March 1857. Coll. Carp. 1015J. 



Island op St. Thomas. — A tree, 25 to 35 ft. high ; head elongated, 

 interrupted, evergreen ; branches patent ; fruit spherical or ellipsoidal, 

 very minutely scutellate outside, as large as a moderate-sized pumpkin 

 or as a human head or larger ; seeds cooked by the negroes and dried, 

 edible, numerous in the syncarpium, about 1000 to 1200, embedded 

 horizontally in white and spongy pulp, well tasted. In the denser 

 damper forests of the island, up to elevation of 2500 ft., wild, and on 

 account of its savoury fruit occasionally cultivated ; fr. Dec. 1860. 

 Native names "Isa," "Isaquente," "Quicange," "G-iquenge," or 

 " Gicuenge." No. 2589 and Coll. Carp. 20. 



In Senegambia it is called "Okwa" or "Ocua." It is mentioned 

 by Welwitsch in Synopse Explic. p. 54, n. 142 (1862), under the name 

 of " Amendoas de Disanha " (Disanha almonds) ; the fruit is described 

 as having the shape and size of a small "abobora chila" {Cueurhita 

 ficifoUa Bonch^, ante, p. 402 ; Welw. herb. no. 834 and Coll. Carp. 

 142) ; the seeds are frequently sold in the market in the island of 

 St. Thomas, where they are bought for food. 



The fungus n. 73, the moss n. 1486, the hepatic n. 302, and the 

 lichens nn. 97, 180, 305, and 434, grew on the trunk branches or 

 leaves of Dizanha in Serra de Alto Queta and in other parts of 

 Golungo Alto. Carpolobia alba G. Don {ante, p. 48) grew under the 

 shade of this tree then in flower-bud at the end of Oct. 1855. 



