DR. WELWITSCH ON THE LORANTHACEiE OF ANGOLA. 121 
differently shaped foliage of the foster-plant forms one of the 
most striking features of parasitic vegetation along the sea-coast 
of Benguella and Mossamedes. Thus in one instance I was most 
agreeably surprised to find a small bush of Gossypium microcar- 
pvm, only between 2 and 3 feet high, bearing several stems of a 
pink-flowered Lorantkus, nearly a foot long, on its slender 
branches ; whilst on another occasion I met with several low 
shrubs of the intensely glaucous Tamarix articulata, of which 
nearly every main branch was adorned by immense patches of a 
pretty Loranthus with splendid yellow flowers. 
The greater number of the Angolan Loranthi glitter with 
flowers of a more or less pink or scarlet hue ; but about half-a- 
dozen of the species are adorned with golden or orange-coloured 
blossoms ; and nearly all the species are exceedingly free -flower- 
ing. The principal flowering-season of the Loranthaceae coin- 
cides in Angola with the spring — that is, from September till 
November ; but many of the finest species continue their blooming 
during almost the whole summer, when they may be found not 
unfrequently covered with ripe fruits at the base while they are 
still in full bloom at the top of one and the same branch of 
the respective foster-tree. The yellow-flowered kinds, however, 
seem to begin their season much later ; for I met with several 
golden-blooming species in the months of June and July, which 
time in Angola is the very middle of the dry and chilly winter 
season. 
All the species have fleshy and rather broad leaves, which, 
however, vary considerably in colour, being on some species of a 
dark shining green, in others glaucous green, and in a few 
species they are covered with a greyish tomentum. Although 
some few species evince a decided predilection for particular 
species of trees, I not unfrequently found the same species of 
Loranthus growing on trees pertaining to very difierent species, 
genera, or even orders of plants ; but the pendulous species of 
Loranthus I observed exclusively on species of Ficus, whilst 
the Viscum I found constantly growing on an arborescent com- 
posite, a species of Tarchonanthus, The forest-trees most fre- 
quently inhabited by Loranthi are the Adansonice, several of 
the larger trees of the orders Mimoseae, Combretacese, 
Sterculiacese, and Sapindacese, as well as most of the difierent 
Fig-trees, whilst in the southern parts of Benguella, and near 
Cabo Negro, many beautiful species of Loranthm may be observed 
