Feb. 16, 1914 
Citropsis, an African Genus Allied to Citrus 
43i 
September, 1884, Sibange Farm (Dahlem Herbarium). Du Beu,ay (No. 4?), 1864 
(Museum, Paris, Herbarium). Tessmann (No. 874), January 26, 1909. Spanish 
Guinea (?)—Bebady (?); (No. 194), February 14, 1908, Nkolentagan. (?) Congo.— 
GenTie (No. 93)/ May, 1903, Bombaie (Brussels Herbarium). Hendrickx (coll. 
Gillet, No. 3280) Lumene (Brussels Herbarium). Daurejnt (No. ?), November 28, 
1903, Bombaie (Brussels Herbarium). 
Citropsis gabunensis , one of the first four species of Limonia, described 
from Africa by Engler in 1895, was based on specimens collected by 
H. Soyaux (No. 105) at Sibanga Farm in the Munda region near Libre¬ 
ville, French Congo (Gabun), on July 25, 1880. Three sheets of this 
number are preserved in the Dahlem Herbarium, and on them the 
species is based. The type specimen had a single fruit; the paratypes 
are sterile. The herbaria of Dahlem, Brussels, Paris, and Kew contain 
numerous other specimens of this species from northern French Congo 
and Spanish Guinea. This material represents a wide range of foliar 
characters and shows all stages of flower and fruit development. All 
these specimens seem to belong to a single species which is very distinct 
from any of the others. 
The type specimen of Limonia Lacourtiana was collected by L. Gentil 
(No. 93), May, 1893, and is preserved along with Gentil’s original label 
in the herbarium of the botanic garden at Brussels. The leaves are all 
5-foliate, and in one case a terminal leaflet has a winged petiole. The 
leaflets are broadly oval, more or less abruptly narrowed at the base, 
and caudate at the tip. The young fruits are borne in clusters in the 
axils of the leaves on pedicels 10 to 12 mm. long. In all of these char¬ 
acters this specimen is indistinguishable from Citropsis gabunensis . 
A young fruit from this type specimen now preserved in the National 
Herbarium at Washington, D. C., seems to be seedless, but shows 
numerous pulp vesicles which contain a whitish granular wax. 2 The 
original label of M. Gentil says “ fruits delicieux,” but as the fruits in 
the type specimen are very small and immature it is obvious that his 
statement must apply to some other plant, doubtless not belonging to 
this species. Most of the fruits of the typical Citropsis gabunensis 
examined contain large seeds, often nearly filling the small fruit and 
leaving very little space for the pulp vesicles, which are crowded and 
often nearly obliterated by the seeds. 
Whether the vesicles of a young seedless fruit of the typical Citropsis 
gabunensis would show the presence of wax remains to be investigated. 
In the absence of knowledge on this point it seems inadvisable to recog¬ 
nize Limonia Lacourtiana as a species distinct from Citropsis gabunensis , 
though future research may possibly prove it to be a good species. 
1 This is the type specimen of Limonia Lacourtiana. 
1 Recently, through the kindness of M. Auguste Chevalier and of Rev. J. Gillet, of Kisantu, Congo, 
abundant material has been received of a species of Citropsis apparently distinct from any hitherto described, 
the fruits of which are often seedless and contain abundant pulp vesicles filled with a wax, which, when 
extracted, makes a yellow, fragrant mass much like beeswax in character. 
