BOTANICAL REPORT OF LIBERIA 009 
was also seen and an attempt made to add it to the collection, but because of 
the wet weather, drying was slow and the characters, once pronounced, were 
soon obliterated by the mass of larvae that commonly infest such fleshy forms. 
Around the village, a very useful weed thrives, — useful, because under the 
guidance of Dr. Bequaert, it was converted into a very palatable soup and 
furnished the first and most welcome greens. 
From Memmeh’s Town to Reppue’s Town, is a march of three and one- 
half hours, during which time we plod along in an almost perpetual downpour 
of rain. It seems to be a question, of not how soon it will abate, but how much 
harder can it rain. As a result, very little collecting is done. However, Ormo- 
carpum megaphyllum a shrub three to four feet high with pale dirty-yellow 
flowers, the petals of which are veined with purple, is collected beside a spring 
in a stretch of original forest, while in wet sandy depressions, among open 
woods, the orchid Liparis rufina is fairly abundant. According to the chief 
of Reppue’s Town, a tea is made from the roots of this plant, and also from 
Combretum grandiflorum, to cure ‘running of the belly” that results from the 
chilling of that important organ. The boys, as contrasted with the porters, 
frequently stooped as they passed along and picked the berries of a Melasto- 
maceous plant. These are about one-half an inch in diameter, pinkish of color, 
and pulpy of content. The taste is very agreeable. It is slightly sweet and 
somewhat acid, a property that makes them a very convenient means of quench- 
ing thirst after chlorinated water is all consumed. Subsequently this species 
proved to be Tristemma incompletum. In this same region, Honckenya ficifolia, 
previously observed in the coastal region to grow in wet meadows, grows on 
the dried exposed areas of low hillsides. 
If the amount of secondary forest is a fair criterion, Reppue’s Town is in 
the heart of a rice-producing area, indeed there is still an extensive acreage 
under cultivation. Macaranga huraefolia is a very abundant low tree of the 
secondary growth, and one which produces a yellowish translucent gum at 
the cut surfaces. Along the paths, and rooting at the nodes of the geniculate 
stems, Isachne Buettnert is a rather common grass, while Panicum lineatum 
less frequent, climbs to a height of twelve feet over the bushes and low trees. 
In a clearing of the secondary woods, an attempt has been made to produce 
coffee, and this, while not in great number, appears to be successful enough 
to supply local needs. 
The distance from Reppue’s Town to Miamu is relatively short, though 
with one or two very steep hills. One hill is of especial interest because of 
the fact that the southern slope is covered with whitish sand; the opposite 
slope, somewhat steeper, is covered with the rusty red lateritic soil. The dif- 
ference in the soil of the two sides of the hills seems to depend on the rapidity 
and degree of erosion. Correlated with this difference in soil, there is also, 
especially near the summit of the hill, a change in flora. 
Around the town of Miamu, the country continues to be rather deeply 
rolling and well forested. Here Oligostemon pictus, a member of the Legumi- 
noseae, with small, white, narrow, strap-shaped petals, is encountered, as are 
