Synoptical and Specific Descriptions. 
35 
FAMILY XXIV. — RHAMNEiE. 
Flowers small, regular, hermaphrodite. Inflorescence various, often cymose. Calyx 5-lobed, its tube filled or lined by the disc, the segments valvate in bud. Petals 5, 
small, hooded, perigynous, frequently absent. Stamens 5, opposite the petals. Ovary sessile, superior or more or less inferior 2-3-4 celled ; cells i-ovuled, ovules erect. Styles 
short, connate below. Fruit fleshy or capsular ; seeds usually albuminous. Leaves simple, alternate ; stipules minute or absent, or spinose. Trees, shrubs and climbers ; few 
are of much importance. 
72. ZIZYPHUS. Flowers in axillary cymes, small, greenish, with a prominent flat 5-sided disc. Calyx-segments triangular, keeled within. Petals ovate, clawed, yellowish, 
hooded. Stamens opposite to and longer than the petals. Ovary 2-celled, somewhat sunk into the disc and connate with it. Styles recutved. Drupe fleshy, 12 
seeded. A small genus, widely dispersed 
Z. mucronata, Willd. Vent, names — i, Buffalo Thorn ; 4, Pasa-mali ; 6, im-pasa-mali ; 10, Numatunga; 4, 12, 13, Um-pafa ; 15, Mhlalu-bantu. A tree 5- 10 metres 
high, 30-45 c m. diameter, frequent throughout the Province, as also in Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, Abyssinia and West Africa. Branches usually armed with 
stipular spines, 1 hooked downward and 1 straight upward. Leaves oblique at the base, ovate or ovate cordate, crenate-serrate, 3-veined, usually obtuse, 4 5 c.m. 
long, 3 c.m. wide, glabrous or almost so, petiolate. Cymes axillary 1-3 c.m. long, many-flowered ; fruits numerous, globose, 1 c.m. diameter, fleshy, dark red, not 
edible, and having the scar of the fallen calyx-segments evident as a small disc around the base. Usually a spreading tree in open scrub, and in Magenja da Costa 
it seems to have a partiality for ant heaps. See “Forest Flora of Cape Colony,” 177, Plate XXXVI. fig. 1. 
Plate XXIV. B. 1, Fruiting cyme ; 2, Flower, x 3 ; 3, Petal and stamen, x6. 
Z. jujuba, Lam. Vern. names — 1, Jujube; 2, Masonje; 10, Masawa; and var. nemoralis is included with Z. mucronata under the name, 10, Numatunga. A very 
variable small tree, with the branches usually armed with stipular spines, 1 hooked downward and 1 straight upward. Leaves more or less oblique at the base, 
ovate, finely serrulate, 3-nerved, glabrous above, white tomentose below, as also is the young wood and inflorescence. Cymes short, many-flowered. Fruit 2-3 c.m. 
long, 1*5 c.m. diameter, oblong, with a large disc. Common in semi-cultivation or naturalised in the tropical districts, with rounded almost entire leaves and edible 
fruits. 
Plate XXIV. A. 1. 
Var. nemoralis , the usual forest form, has sharper, more oblique, and more serrated leaves, and fruits which are not edible. Frequent in the tropical forests, 
often as a low trailing bush very different in appearance, but without specific distinction. Not seen south of Inhambanc. 
Two other specimens from Zambesia are mentioned in “Flora of Tropical Africa,” from insufficient material; of these I know nothing further. 
73 BERCHEMIA. Calyx tube short, 5-lobed ; petals 5, hooded ; stamens 5 ; disc clothing the calyx tube, margin free. Ovary immersed in the disc, free, ovoid, 2-celled, 
attenuated into a 2-fid style. Drupe oblong, 2-celled. Leaves simple, deciduous. 
B. discolor, Helmsl. ( = Scutia discolor, Klotzsch in Peters’ Mossamb. Bot. no, t. 21.) A small tree with alternate or sub-opposite ovate or lanceolate, almost entire 
leaves 3-6 c.m. long, glaucous on the under surface. Cymes axillary, few-flowered. Drupe large, yellow, fleshy, 2 c.m. long, 2-seeded, edible. Zambesia. 
74. SCUTIA. Flowers small, greenish, in few-flowered, shortly peduncled, axillary umbels or fascicles. Calyx cup-shaped, its tube longer than its triangular margined segments. 
Petals flat, and with the stamens perigynous. Disc surrounding but not connate to the globose 2-celled ovary. Style short, stigmas 2-3. Fruit leathery or fleshy, 
globose, sitting on or in the somewhat flattened cup of the calyx-tube, and containing 2 separable stones with flat adjacent faces. Trees or ramblers. Leaves simple, 
alternate or approaching in pairs ; stipules minute, caducous ; a sharp intra-axillary hooked prickle (reduced branch) often present. 
S. indica, Brogn. Vern. name — 13, isi-pinga. Sometimes a bush or small tree ; sometimes a widely rambling “ Monkey-rope.” Leaves oblong or elliptical, very variable. 
Fruits black, 6-10 m.m. diameter, very astringent, but eaten by children. A useless weed, common in Lourcnzo Marques and present in M’Chopes and Inhambane. 
See “ Forest Flora of Cape Colony,” 178, Plate XXXVI. fig. 2. 
75. RHAMNUS. Flowers small, green axillary, 1 or more in an axil. Calyx urceolate with 5 segments ; disc lining the thin tube; petals 5 or absent, when present very 
small, cuculate and emarginate. Stamens 5, minute, opposite the petals, and often included in the hood. Ovary free, ovoid, 3-cclled ; styles 3, short, connate 
below. Fruit fleshy, girt at the base by the calyx-tube and containing 2-3 bony stones. Seeds albuminous. Leaves simple, petiolate, stipulate. R. prinoides, 
frequent in the Cape Colony and Natal, and in Abyssinia, was not noticed during my journey. 
