Diospyfos] Lxxix. ebbnace^e. 653 



The natives call this plant " Dendo ofele," or " Dendo cafeli," that 

 is, small Dendo. 



4. D. Dendo Welw. ex Hiern, Monogr. Eben. p. 195, t. x (1873), 

 and in Oliv., I.e. ; Ficalho, PI. Uteis, p. 214 (1884). 



GoLUNGO Alto. — An evergreen tree, 25 to 35 ft. high ; wood very 

 hard, quite black in the centre ; leaves shining, green ; berries black- 

 purple. Among the mountains of Serra de Alto Queta, Dembos, etc., 

 plentiful, in dense primitive forests which this plant occasionally 

 forms together with Anonaceae (cf. Unona lucidula Oliv. ; Welw. 

 herb. Nob. 758, 767) and Corynanthe paniculata Welw. herb. No. 1508 ; 

 -a. Deo. to Feb., fr. March to May 1854 to 1856. No. 2537. In 

 the dense most elevated forests of Cungulungulo ; without either 

 fl. or fr. Feb. 1855. Apparently a broad-leaved form of this species. 

 No. 2538. The Dendo grande of the Mangue forest in Queta ; fr. 

 April 1856. Coll. Cakp. 710. 



This tree, which is called " Dendo " or " N-Dendo '' by the natives 

 in Golungo Alto, is mentioned by Welwitsoh, Apont. p. 552 under 

 n. 108, as a Diospyroa which furnishes very beautiful and durable 

 -timber for building purposes. He also describes it, Synopse Explic. 

 p. 10, n. 18, as follows : — A tree of 25 to 40 ft. in height and 1 to 2 ft. 

 in diameter, growing in the densest and most shady virgin forests ; 

 the wood is one of the strongest, densest, compact, and most durable 

 ia the forests of Angola ; it is white in the outer part, with black bars 

 in the middle of the trunk. 



It is the Dendo grande, or great Dendo, as contrasted with the 

 Dendo ofele, or small Dendo, which is D. Loureiriana G. Don, /3. hetero- 

 ■tricha. The name Dendo is also occasionally used for Maba Mualala 

 Welw. 



5. D. Welwitschii Hiern, sp. n. 



A shrub or tree ; branches dusky, glabrate, terete ; branchlets 

 alternate, slender, dusky-ashy, making an angle of about 45° with 

 the branches, ascending, minutely puberulous at the extremities ; 

 leaves alternate, oval or oblong, obtusely sub-acumin'ate at the 

 apex, more or less obtusely narrowed at the base, thinly coriaceous, 

 shining dark green and glabrous or very nearly so above, rather 

 paler green subglabrate and microscopically scaly beneath, 1| 

 to 3^ in. long by |- to 1^ in. broad ; midrib narrowly depressed 

 above, in relief beneath; lateral veins and nefc-veins inconspicuous ; 

 margin entire, rather undulate ; petiole |^ to | in. long, glabrate or 

 puberulous ; male flowers fasciculate a few together, clustered in 

 very abbreviated axillary puberulous cymes, rather fleshy, milk- 

 white, very readily falling off, glabrous ; calyx ^ in. in diameter, 

 4-cleft, the lobes broadly deltoid, obtuse ; corolla deeply 4- or rarely 

 5-lobed, ^ in. long, the segments oval-ovate, obtuse ; stamens 

 about 16, glabrous, inserted on the corolla near its base or near 

 the top of its very short tube; anthers ovate-lanceolate, about 

 ■j^ in. long or rather less, longer than the rather slender filaments ; 

 •ovary rudimentary, glabrous, obtuse. 



LOANDA. — At Alto das Cruzes, Feb. 1854. No. 4840. In bushy 

 places near Museque do Senhor Schut, rather rare ; male fl. 17 May 

 1854. No. 4841. 



This is nearly related to D. Dendo Welw., but the corolla is much 

 shorter and the foliage more coriaceous. 



