321 



The flowers are very handsome, developed on the old wood. 

 They are represented in figures as red and blue (original colour), 

 but Whitfield described their colour as apricot and crimson, and 

 added that they assume a bluish tint when decaying (Bot. Mag. 

 t. 4387). 



Pound as a shrubby trep, 10-20 ft. high, Lagos (Punch, Herb. 

 Kew), or as a low scrambling tree, Mt. Patti, Lokoja (Elliott, Herb. 

 Kew). 



MELASTOMACEAE. 



DlSSOTIS, Benth. 



Dissotis grandiflora, Benth. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 455. 



III. — Ann. Sc. Nat. Paris, xiv. p. 119 and xiii. t. 7 {Osbeckiastrum 

 Heudelotii). 



Vernac. names. — Djendjeng (Sierra Leone, Scott Elliot) ; Gnienie 

 (French Guinea, Farmar). 



Sierra Leone ; Seuegambia ; French Guinea. 



The roots are said to contain a large amount of sugar, and are used 

 for making wine (Scott Elliot, Col. Rep. Misc. No. 3, 1893, p. 4). 



Dissotis Irvingiana, HooJc.f. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 453. 



III.— Bot. Mag. t, 5149. 



Lagos ; Abeokuta ; Nupe ; found on the Gold Coast and extending 

 to Abyssinia. 



An ornamental plant. 



Found in moist places, Nupe (Barter, Herb. Kew) ; amongst corn 

 at Ibara, Lagos (MacGregor, Herb. Kew) ; Krobo Plains, Gold Coast 

 (Johnson, Herb. Kew). 



Dissotis segregata, Hook.f. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 448. 



Idu, New Calabar ; Nupe. 



An ornamental plant, along margins of swamps, Nupe (Barter, 

 Herb. Kew). 



The Melastomaceae are in general strikingly handsome plants f 

 Amphiblemma cymcsum, Naud., Fl. Trop. Afr. ii. p. 456, from 

 West Africa has teen figured in the Bot. Mag. t. 904 (Mclastoma 

 corymbosum) and t. 5473, but there are no specimens recorded from 

 Nigeria. 



LYTHRARIEAE. 

 Lagerstroemia, Linn. 



Lagerstroemia Flos-Reginae, Retz. Obs. v. p. 25. 



Tree 50-60 ft. high. Leaves oblong, glabrous. Inflorescence in 

 terminal panicles ; flowers 2-3 in. in diameter ; petals orbicular, 

 undulate, on short claws, rose colour in the morning, deepening to 

 puiple as the day advances. 



111.— Rheede, Hort. Mai. iv. tt. 20, 21 ; Roxb. PI. Corom. t. 65 

 (L. Heginae) ; Wight, Ic. PI. Ind. Or. ii. t. 413 (L. Beginae) ; 

 Spach, Suites (Hist. Nat. des Vegetaux) t. 36 (L. Beginae) : Nooton, 

 Fl. Java, t. 30 (L. Eegia); Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t, 29 (L. regina)\ 

 Teysmannia, Batavia, xviii. 1907, p. 423 (habit) ; Vidal, Fl. For. 

 Filip. t. 52 B (fl. fr. and seed). 



Vernac. names. — Jarool or Jarul (India, Assam, Beddome, Waft) ; 



Pymma (Burma, Watt, Gamble) ; Banaba (Philippines, Ahem). 



Queen of Flowers. 



16583 K 



