2 10 
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 
be some optical delusion. Then there is a mighty tree of the genus Spathodea 
(probably S. campanulata). Its flowers again are crimson-scarlet with a curious 
velvet hood of even deeper and richer crimson ; and there is the Bombax, whose 
flowers also are vivid scarlet-crimson with a mass of dull-black anthers and a 
calyx of yellow-green. Both Spathodea and Bombax are trees of great height 
and stateliness. The Bombax is the more effective object because the leaves 
are not much out when the flowers burst forth ; and the spectacle is such that 
if Linnaeus gave way to tears before a field of gorse, one wonders what he 
would have done in full view of a mighty Bombax with its branches hung with 
pendant crimson flowers, like innumerable red lamps. Even the baobab's 
flowers, though they tarnish quickly, are beautiful for a brief space, while they 
retain the creamy white of their petals and the pale gold dazzle of their 
multitudinous stamens. 
There are many beans of the genus Tephrosia , growing as creepers or erect 
shrubs with flowers usually 
a rich purple, but in one 
species ( Tephrosia Vogelii) 
with the corolla snow- 
white and the calyx, stalks, 
and ovaries the deepest 
purple. Other bean flowers 
(Crotalaria and Eriosema ) 
are yellow. There are 
Hibiscuses, with huge 
flowers of lemon-yellow 
crimson-centred; others of 
pure white, others of pale 
pink. 
There are shrubs of 
the genus Copaifera whose 
flowers have large, crinkly 
petals of pure white 
streaked with rose, and a 
powerful aromatic scent ; and 
cucurbits with cold - white blossoms and 
gaudy-coloured gourds. The Cnestis shrub 
exhibits big seed-vessels, several in a clump, 
covered with orange or scarlet velvet, through 
the valves of which the black-headed beans 
protrude. Ground orchids, chiefly of the 
genus Lissochilus, grow amid the grass with 
columns of red, mauve, or sulphur-yellow 
flowers. Epiphytic orchids are not so 
common, and are only found in clumps of 
dense forest, where they are chiefly represented by the genera 
Ansellia and Angrcecum. 
Everywhere in moist places straggles the Commelina with 
its blooms of cobalt-blue, yellow, or white—flowers that 
wither before the noonday sun, but are lovely in the morning 
hours. 
This enumeration is wearisome to the eye from the constant 
OR 
THE ANSELLIA 
“tiger” ORCHIS 
