Greivia] xxv. tiliace^e. 9$ 



the portions of forest which are richly clothed with trees, and on 

 the margins of primitive woods; and they often occur in such 

 abundance that they constitute dense thickets. 



Many species of Grewia are, on account of the great elasticity 

 of their branches, used for traps and occasionally for archers' 

 bows; the elastic branches, especially those of G. pilosa Lam., 

 are employed by the negroes for the lattice-gates of their huts 

 as well as for the snares which are laid within their enclosures 

 for catching birds and the smaller quadrupeds. The inner bark of 

 nearly all the species supplies good ropes. The berries of some 

 species are eaten by the negroes, who, however, when hungry will 

 eat almost anything. The species of Grewia also furnish every- 

 where good firewood ; when in flower they are an ornament to 

 the margins of the forests, and when in fruit they appear to 

 supply a delicacy to bees. 



Some of the species of Triumfetta present themselves in such 

 innumerable varieties and forms of transition that the limitation 

 of the species, and still more so the even approximately correct 

 arrangement or grouping of the varieties, becomes excessively 

 difficult. On this account I have given, nearly in full, Welwitsch's 

 notes ; and in the determination of the species I have generally 

 followed Dr. Masters. Several, with the Bundo name " Quibosa," 

 are very useful by the tenacity of the fibres which their stems 

 and inner bark furnish, and ropes are manufactured from them. 

 In the mountainous districts of the interior three or four species 

 are designated by this name : for example, T. semiirilciba, T. 

 rhomboidea, T. orthacantha. (See Welw. Apont. p. 559 under 

 n. 138, and Synopse, p. 43, n. 119.) 



The species of Corchorus are found principally in fields formerly 

 cultivated and afterwards deserted, or as weeds among field-plants, 

 and congregate in dense masses in the littoral regions around the 

 sandy-loamy banks of the lakes, the artificial ponds (represas), 

 and the smaller stagnant pools which after the rainy season occur 

 everywhere, girt by a green border of herbaceous plants. Some 

 species, especially C. olitorius L., are eaten by the negroes as a 

 vegetable, a fact which, however, Welwitsch particularly observed 

 only in Golungo Alto and by the river Luinha in the district of 

 Cazengo. If it were possible to prove that G. olitorius L., a 

 species which, as has been stated, occurs very frequently in 

 Golungo Alto and is eaten there as a vegetable, is not indigenous 

 but introduced, Welwitsch maintained that it could have been, 

 introduced only from Egypt, or at least from the North-east, but 

 not from America, to which continent the majority of writers 

 trace back all the plants of West Tropical Africa which are 

 regarded as introductions. 



1. GREWIA L. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 233. 

 1. G. caffra Meisn. in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. ii. p. 53 (1843) ; 

 Masters in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. i. p. 244. 



Grewia (sp.), Welw. Apont. p. 559, under n. 138. 



