236 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



[Vol, 8 t No. 3 



CELASTRACEAE 



Catha edulis Forsk. Fl. Aegypt.-Arab. cvii (nom.), 63 (descr.). 1775; Davison, 

 Bothalia 2: 339. 1927; Greenway, E. Afr. Agr. Jour. 13: 98-102. 1947. 

 Kota-kota District: Nchisi, common in forest, tree to 20 m. high and 60 cm. in 

 diameter, flowers cream-coloured, 1350 m., Aug. 1, 1946, 17071. Cholo District: 

 Cholo, common in rain-forest, tree 20-25 m. high and to 40 cm. in diameter, fruit 

 immature, whitish, 1100 m., Sept. 29, 1946, 17873. Arabia (? introduced here) and 

 Abyssinia, southwards through eastern Africa to South Africa. 



Maytenus Mol. 



Gymnosporia (Wight & Arn.) Benth. & Hook. 



In volume 20B of the second edition of the Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien 

 (1942) Loesener has taken a rather revolutionary view of the limits of the genera 

 Gymnosporia and Maytenus, restricting the former to those with spines or short 

 shoots. Consequently a number of African species, till then accepted as Gymno' 

 sporiae, had to be moved to Maytenus. Till then Maytenus had been limited to 

 New World species, and separated from Gymnosporia by rather vague characters 

 such as the prevalence of uniovulate loculi and bilocular ovaries. 



Loesener's new view was a decided improvement on the previous position. 

 Biovulate loculi are neither rare nor accidental in Maytenus, witness Urban's key 

 to the West Indian species (Symb. Antill. 5: 53, 54. 1904), where twenty out of 

 twenty-one species are said to have them. Bilocular ovaries are usual in some 

 African species of Gymnosporia a There was thus, before Loesener's latest idea, 

 no certain character to separate Gymnosporia from Maytenus. 



The presence or absence of spines or short shoots is, however, so poor a 

 character to separate genera, and is moreover inconstant, that it seems better to 

 merge Gymnosporia wholly into Maytenus. 



Maytenus acuminata (L.f.) Loes. in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenf. ed. 2. 20B: 

 138. 1942. 



Celastrus acuminatus L. f. Suppl. PI. 154. 1781. 

 Celastrus populifolius Lam. Tab. Encyc. 2: 94. 1797. 



Gymnosporia acuminata (L.f.) Szysz. Enum. Polyp. Discifl. Rehm. 33. 1888; Engl. 



Pflanzenw. Afr. 3 2 : 224. 1921; Davison, Bothalia 2: 311. 1927. Non G. acuminata 



Hook. f. ex Laws, in Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. 1: 619. 1875. 

 Gymnosporia populifolia (Lam.) Dummer, Gard. Chron. III. 54: 248. 1913. 



Mlanje District: Mlanje Mountain; Luchenya Plateau, common in primary 

 forest, tree up to about 10 m. high, fruit dehiscent, 1890 m., July 15, 1946, 

 16843. Uganda (Eggeling 3787), southwestern Tanganyika Territory ? (Stolz 2334), 

 Nyasaland, and South Africa. 



Mr.*r3rass* specimen has leaves rather larger and proportionately longer than 

 the largest-leaved South African specimens, more rounded at base and more shin- 

 ing above. It does not agree satisfactorily with Gymnosporia lepidota Loes., 

 which has been made a variety of G. acuminata, but does seem the same as the 

 Uganda and Tanganyika specimens in Herb. Kew. cited above. In any event I do 

 not consider it more than a large-leaved variant of G. acuminata. 



It should be noticed that if this species is kept in Gymnosporia it cannot be 

 called G. acuminata (L.f.) Szysz., which is a later homonym; G. populifolia (Lam.) 

 Dummer is the right name uncler Gymnosporia. 



Maytenus acuminata (L.f.) Loes. var. uva-ursi B re nan, var. nov. 



A typo foliis ad apicem obtusis vel nonnunquam subacutis nec acutis vel acu- 

 minatis, omnibus pro specie minimis (5-)9-20(-25) mm. longis 4-13 mm. latis 

 obovatis usque ellipticis vel nonnunquam subovatis. 



