Ximenia] xxxvi. olacine*. 141 



paler nearly glaucous beneath, not punctate ; petals greenish-yellow ; 

 filaments whitish-hyaline, flattened, a little shorter than the petals, 

 spirally twisted at the apex ; anthers yellow, basifixed : ovary nut- 

 shaped, sessile, scrbbiculate on the thicker portion, surmounted by a 

 smooth conical process ; stigma obsoletely 4-angled ; stigma small, 

 capitate ; drupe the size of a pigeon's egg, yellow both outside and 

 inside, juicy, with smell of cyanic acid ; seed large, obovoid, very oily. 

 No animal touches the fruit, and the crushed rind is frequently applied 

 by the negroes to the sores of domestic animals to keep off the flies. 

 Native name " Muhinge " or " Mohinge." In primitive woods through- 

 out nearly the whole district but usually sporadic, fl. Nov. 1855 ; by 

 the river Delamboa near Sange in ripe fr. Dec. 1855 and Feb. and 

 March 1856. No. 1122. Coll. Cakp. 322, 323, 324. Unripe fruit 

 green. At the margins of the primitive woods of Sobato de Mussengue 

 but rare, May 1855. No. 1123. 



Mossamedes. — A small tree or a robust hard glaucescent arborescent 

 shrub, spinous, in some places with deciduous in others with persistent 

 leaves ; fruit egg-shaped, 1J in. long, 1 in. thick, of an orange colour ; 

 frequent in thickets almost throughout the district from Mossamedes 

 to Bumbo, by the banks of the river Maiombo in sandy places, in fr. 

 and other specimens in fl. Oct. 1859. Native name " Umpeque." 

 No. 1130. Coll. Carp. 321. 



The seeds of the fruits contain a very savoury kernel, from which- 

 the natives of Mossamedes extract an oil which they employ at the 

 time of their feasts and also for anointing their bodies and for daubing 

 their hair. Being very abundant and easily propagated, the species is 

 well worthy of the attention of those who study oil-producing plants 

 (Welwitsch, Synopse, p. 34, n. 87). 



The seeds also can be used in the making of a kind of marasquino. 

 Schweinfurth, Heart of Africa, vol. i., p. 192, states that the blossoms 

 emit a soft fragrance as of orange flowers, and that the shrub bears a 

 round yellow fruit about the size of a cherry which is nearly as sour as 

 anything in nature. The flavour is like a citron, and the soft nut-like 

 kernel is eaten with the juicy pulp. 



Var. /?. microphylla (Welwitsch), Oliv., I.e., i. p. 347. 



A rigid shrub, 2 to 4 ft. high, very glaucous in all parts, 

 virgately branched, not uncommonly adorned with species of 

 Loranthus ; leaves rather fleshy ; flowers whitish-rose. 



Bumbo. — Frequent in bushy places at the skirts of the woods about 

 the base of Serra da Xella, fl. Oct. 1859. No. 1127. 



3. OLAX L. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. p. 347. 



1. 0. viridis Oliv. Fl. Trop. Air. i. p. 349. 



Golungo Alto. — A low shrub, 2 to 4 ft. high ; branches thin, tor- 

 tuous, green, sulcate-angular ; leaves evergreen, thinly fleshy-coriaceous, 

 glossy above ; flowers rather obtuse ; calyx cupuliform, obtusely denti- 

 culate, with a truncate margin, green, inferior, not accrescent ; corolla 

 white, areolate ; petals 5, cohering up to the middle ; stamens 8, but 

 usually only 3 fertile, the latter alternate with the petals, inserted 

 below the throat of the corolla, included ; fertile anthers introrse, 

 2-celled, dehiscing longitudinally ; filaments flattened ; sterile stamens 5, 

 opposite to the petals. The corolla appears as if made of milk-white 

 transparent wax, so that the yellow anthers which are placed in the 

 upper and thinner portion of the tube shine through the corolla-wall ; 

 the corolla falls off like the calyptra of a moss, circumscissile at the 



