650 Lxxix. EBENACE^. \Euclea 



little smaller. In the thia bushy forest of Mata de Monino ; young 

 fr. Feb. 1860. No. 2557. A tree-like shrub, 4 to 8, usually only 

 4 ft. high, with a very dense black-green head and sub-verticellate, 

 twiggy branches. In w6oded places with tall bushes along the 

 denser forests from Lopollo towards JAu, in Mata de 3ka, not plentiful ; 

 fl.-bud end of May 1860. No. 2555. 



No. 2556 is vacant, the plant intended for this No. having been 

 included under No. 1258 as given above. No. 2556& consists of a leafy 

 shoot, without either fl. or fr., of a small tree or rather an arborescent 

 shrub, 8 ft. high, tomentose almost in every part, which occurred in 

 the Bumbo district at the base of Chao da Xella in Oct. 1859 ; it can 

 scarcely belong to this species, and indeed is a doubtful member of 

 EbenacesB. 



3. MABA Forst. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PL ii. p. 664. 



1. M. Mualala Welw. ex Hiern, Monogr. Eben. in Trans. 

 Cambr. Phil. Soo. xii. p. Ill (1873), and in Oliv. fl. Trop. Afr. 

 iii. p. 515 ; Picalho, PI. Uteis, p. 213 (1884). 



Menus Mualata 0. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. ii. p. 408 (1891). 



LOANDA. — A tree, tall enough in the interior, but in the coast 

 region scarcely more than a small one or rather a much-branched 

 shrub of 3 to 6 ft., hardly ever flowering ; leaves coriaceous, deep 

 black-green, glossy, evergreen. In the thickets, the remnant of the 

 ancient forests, near Imbondeiro dos Lobos, very rare, June 1868 ; 

 also near Quicuxe, 7 Feb. 1859 ; young shoots of a tree formerly cut 

 down or burnt ; without either fl. or fr. No. 2542. 



GoLTJNGO Alto. — A beautiful tree with the habit of a laurel ; trunk 

 strictly erect, 15 to 30 ft. high and more ; leaves evergreen, deep- 

 green, remarkably glossy ; fruit black-purple, sparingly juicy, one- 

 seeded ; seed spherical ; calyx trifld. Near Trombeta, without either 

 fl. or fr. March 1855 ; in the denser forests near Trombeta, Sauge, and 

 N-delle ; ripe fr. March 1856. The timber is very hard, valuable, and 

 usually but not always dusky-black in the centre. No. 2539. An 

 evergreen tree of 20 to 35 ft. in height, with valuable wood. In 

 forests between Oal61o and Trombeta ; without either fl. or fr. Feb. 

 1856. No. 2541. A beautiful tree, 25 ft. high, with deep glossy green 

 leaves. In the dense forests of Serra de Alto Queta, without either fl. 

 or f r. August 1856. No, 2540. 



The native name of this tree is " Muall,la " both in Loanda and 

 Golungo Alto. No. 2539 was occasionally called also " Dendo," the 

 name of Diospyros Dendo. In order to convince himself as to the 

 native name, Welwitsch requested the chief Moncao to send him a 

 Mualfila from Trombeta, and received exactly the same species. 

 According to a ms. note of Welwitsch, the wood of MualSla, called 

 also " Tacula escura " (dark Tacula) is good for making flutes and 

 other such musical instruments. 



2. M. buxifolia Pars, Syn. PI. ii. p. 606 (1807); Hiern, I.e. 

 Ehenus buxifolia O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. ii. p. 408 (1891). 

 Var. Ebenus Thwaites, Enum. PI. Zeylan. p. 183 (I860). 

 Ambriz. — A small tree, 12 to 15 ft. high, with the habit of the 



family ; branches rather erect ; branchlets crowded, slender, sub- 

 pubescent with thin hairs ; leaves coriaceous, glossy, easily deciduous 

 at the time of the flowering, undulate on the margin ; flowers dioecious, 

 white or whitish, rather rigid. In the male plant peduncles 3-flowered, 

 rather shorter than the petioles ; flowers when open somewhat nodding ; 



