186 xliii. connarace^e. 



a scarlet velvet. There are two or three species which have a 

 habit very similar to that of the genus Averrhoa of Oxalidese. 

 The scarlet velvet which clothes the fruits of some species excites 

 in the skin the same strong itching as nettles cause ; this stinging 

 is due to the presence of bristles similar to those which occur in 

 Mucuna and in some species of Euphorbiacese. (See Welwitsch, 

 Apontamentos, p. 565, n. 156.) 



The fruits of Sabongo supply an aromatic drug, which the 

 natives of Hungo, a country on the confines of the district of 

 Golungo Alto, bring to the markets at Loanda; they are in 

 much request by the negro population, who prepare from them 

 various stomachic remedies ; the fruits seem to be always threaded 

 in the form of a rosary, and each rosary is sold at the price of 

 from 50 to 150 milreis, according to their greater or less abund- 

 ance in the market. The fruits appeared to Welwitsch to belong 

 to a tree of the family of Connaracese, but he had no opportunity 

 of ascertaining their origin ; the people of Hungo, however, assured 

 him that they were furnished by a large and very leafy tree. 

 (See Welwitsch, Synopse Explic. p. 29, n. 65.) They probably 

 belong to Xylopicrum cethiopicwm in Anonacese, and are repre- 

 sented in the collection by Coll. Carp. 186. 



1. ROUREA Aubl.; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PL i. p. 432. 

 Byrsocarpus Schum. & Thonn. ; Benth. & Hook, f., I.e., p. 431. 



1. R.coccinea Hook, f . ex Benth. in Hook. Niger Fl. p. 290(1849). 



Byrsocarpus coccineus Schum. & Thonn. Guin. Plant, p. 226 

 (1827); Baker in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. i. p. 452. B. puniceus 

 Schum. & Thonn., I.e., p. 227. B. parvifolius Planch, in Linnsea 

 xxiii. p. 412 (1850). 



G-olttngo Alto. — A shrub or bush, 4 to 6 ft. high, standing erect or 

 climbing, branched from the base, the stems spreading rod-like branches 

 and branchlets slender and beset with crowded purple-brown lenti- 

 cels, flowering in October without leaves and again in March with 

 leaves, very elegant especially in the fruiting state. Leaves very 

 sensitive, deciduous, impari-pinnate ; leaflets alternate, small, elliptical, 

 herbaceous-subpapery, reticulate, shortly petiolulate. Flowers small, 

 agreeably scented, arranged in axillary solitary or grouped racemes, 

 pedunculate ; pedicels jointed, elongated, bearing one bract. Calyx- 

 segments 5, imbricate in aestivation, subovate-orbicular, concave, 

 ciliolate at the margin, furnished at the apex with a hairy mane, 

 scarcely patent, herbaceous-green. Petals 5, sessile, milk-white, twice 

 longer than the calyx, inserted below the torus, convolute in aestivation 

 (sinistrorsely as seen from within). Stamens 10, coalescent at the base 

 into a short disk-shaped cup, the alternate ones, namely those opposite 

 the petals, much longer than the others ; anthers 2 -celled, dehiscing 

 longitudinally. Styles 5, quite free from the base upwards, elongated, 

 thickened and densely bearded at the base, erect, tipped by the capitate 

 not bifid stigmas. Fruit oblong, £ in. long, cylindrical, scarlet, shining, 

 pendulous, tardily dehiscing, resembling in shape and colour the berries 

 of Capsicum Comarim. Seed solitary. Not uncommon by the elevated 

 thickets about Camilungo, Bumba, Sange, etc.; fl. Sept., Oct., Dec, 

 March, and sometimes in May ; f r. Dec. and May. No. 4622. A 



