Stapelia] lxxxiii. asclepiadejB. 699 



branched from the base ; branches ascending, tetragonal, obtusely taper- 

 ing towards the apex, obsoletely paberulous ; the angles at least on the 

 upper part muricate with obtuse short teeth ; follicles spindle-shaped, 

 finely striate longitudinally, obsoletely tomentellous, erect, 4J in. 

 long, J in. broad, supported on an erect peduncle about ^ in. lopg 

 which ascends from the middle of a branch ; fruiting calyx 6-partite, 

 the segments lanceolate, minutely puberulous, ^ in. long. In dry hilly 

 places by the Gira-fil river ; fr. Oct. 1859. No. 4263. 



LXXXIV. LOGANIACE^. 



This Order, which contains the virulent poisonous drug, the 

 Nux- Vomica, furnishes also well-tasting fruits resembling oranges, 

 belonging to a section of the same genus, Strychnos, and called by 

 the natives " Maboca." Under this name the fruits of several 

 different species are known in Angola which are wholesome and very 

 common, especially in the intei'ior of Huilla, where at their proper 

 season, in December and January, the natives can buy from two to 

 four dozen for a cotton handkerchief or a sheet of white paper. The 

 fruit forms a considerable part of the sustenance of the negroes, 

 and it is also much appreciated by the European colonists for the 

 sake of the acidulous-sweet and refreshing pulp which surrounds the 

 seeds. There are two species of " Maboca " in the Huilla forests, 

 the fruits of which, although tolerably alike outside and even in 

 taste, differ greatly in the effect on the digestion ; the one, which 

 comes from trees with membranous and deciduous leaves, is 

 pleasant and perfectly innocuous ; while the other, which proceeds 

 from a tree of 20 or occasionally 25 ft. high, with its trunk 1 to 

 \\ ft. in diameter, and with evergreen stout and coriaceous leaves, 

 provokes not uncommonly colic and diarrhoea. (See Welwitsch, 

 Apontam. p. 549, n. 90, and Synopse Explic. p. 17, n. 42 and 

 p. 34, n. 88 ; and Ficalho, PL TJteis, p. 224 [1884]). 



1. MOSTITEA F. Didr. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. p. 789 ; 

 BaUl. in BuU. Mens. Soc. Linn. Paris i. p. 244 (1880). 



Coinochlamys T. And. ex Benth. & Hook, f., I.e., p. 1091. 



The capsules in this genus bear a resemblance to those of Veronica. 



1. M. fuchsiaefolia Baker in Kew Bull., "April and May" 

 (June) 1895, p. 96. 



PuNGO Andongo. — An erect, slender, much branched shrub, 3 to 5 ft 

 high ; branches long, divaricate ; leaves obovate, puberulous ; flowers 

 pentamerous, rather fleshy, milk-white, glabrous as well as the slender 

 peduncles ; ovary bilocular, the cells bi-ovulate, the ovules collateral, 

 erect ; style bifld, the lobes again bifid ; capsule compressedly obovate- 

 reniform, bilocular, in shape and structure almost like Bursaria ; the 

 cells dispermous. In thickets at the outskirts of Mata de Cabondo, in 

 the presidium ; fl. Feb., fr. May 1857. No. 4759. 



This species is very closely allied to M. Brunonis F. Didr. in Vidensk. 

 Meddel. Nat. Hist. Kjobenh., 1853, Nr. 3-4, p. 87 (1854), but differs 

 by the presence of pubescence on the inflorescence and by larger flowers 

 with a less deeply divided calyx ; it is also closely allied to Leptocladus 

 Thomsoni Oliv. 



