90 



Investig. Rep. No. 9, 1897, p. 160.— " Kapok," in Kew Bull. Add. 

 Ser. ii. (1901), pp. 27-30.— " Kapok," in PI. Util. Congo. 1903, 

 Art. xxxiii. pp. 564—587. — "Kapok Fibre in Medicine," Pharm. 

 Journ. [4] xix. p. 609. — "Vegetable Flosses or Silk Cottons," in 

 Bull. Imp. Inst. 1905, pp. 222-225.— " Des Produits Utiles des 

 Bombax et en particulier, du Kapok," Perrot, in L'Agric. Prat, 

 des pays chauds, 1905, pp. 22-39. — Bull. Imp. Inst. 1907, 

 pp. 120-121.— The Comm. Prod. India, Watt 1908, pp. 521-523. 



STERCULIACEAE. 

 STERCULIA, Linn. 

 Sterculia cinerea, Rich. ; PL Trop. Afr. I. p. 218. 



///.—Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss, t. 16 ; Engl. Monogr. Afr. Pflan. 

 Sterculiaceae, t. 9, f. A. 



Vernac. names. — Kookoomboya (S.W. Trop. Afr. Baines) ; 

 M'loolooma (Madi, Grant) ; Tartar Tree (Soudan, Broun). 



Strips of the bark from young plants are used as cordage, and 

 the wood makes good poles for tents (Moloney, For. W. Afr. 

 p. 287). The bark is used for a similar purpose in Madi and Bari, 

 and the seeds are eaten during famine (Speke & Grant Exped. 

 Journ. Linn. Soc. xxix. p. 38). 



Sterculia rhinopetala, K. Schum. in Engl. Monogr. Afr. Pflan. 

 Sterculiaceae, p. 102. 



A tree, 80-100 ft. high, with a large dense head. Branchlets 

 rather stout, tomentellous when young, soon becoming glabrous. 

 Leaves entire, oblong-lanceolate or obovate-oblong, rounded or 

 subcordate at the base, rounded obtuse, or subacute at the apex, 

 5-9 in. long, 2-4 in. broad, coriaceous, glabrous ; petioles 1^-3 in. 

 long. Calyx yellowish-green, J in. long, lobed to below the 

 middle, lobes appendiculate. Anthers arranged in two irregular 

 rows. Seeds 7-12 in each follicle. 



Lagos ; the distribution extending to the Cameroons. 



According to Zenker, the seeds are used like those of Cola by 

 the natives at Yaunde in the Cameroons. 



Sterculia tomentosa, Guillem. et Perr. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. 1. p. 217. 

 ///. — Guillem. Perr. Rich. Fl. Senegamb. t. 16 ; Engl. Monogr. 

 Afr. Pflan. Sterculiaceae, t. 9, f. G (anclroecium). 



Vernac. name. — Chixe (Loanda, Wehvitsch). 



Niger ; extending to S.W. Africa and the Soudan. 



Very abundant in dry situations. The thick trunk yields a gum, 

 like Gum Tragacanth ; eaten as food by tiie natives of Loanda, in 

 times of great famine (Hiern. Cat. Welw. Afr. PI. i. p. 82). 



Sterculia Tragacantha, Lindl. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. I. p. 216. 



III. — Bot. Reg. t. 1353 ; Engl. Monogr. Afr. Pflan. Sterculiaceae, 

 t. 9, f. F. 



Vernac. names. — Popripo (Benin, Thompson) ; Nespera or 

 Nespera d'obo (St. Thomas, Moller) ; Quimdembia (Angola, Wel- 

 witsch). — African Tragacanth. 



