4 iM MMI 01087769 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO co ™ _ Co) British Museum (Natura? History). | } This ts No. Gg. 2 of 25 copies of Catalogue of South Nigerian Plants, printed on Special paper. ‘2 ,. 4 i SOUTH NIGERIAN PLANTS Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofplantOObrituoft va BRITISH MUSEUM, NATURAL -HISTORY CATALOGUE OF THE PLANTS COLLECTED BY WER. -& MRS. "P: A. TALBOT IN THE OBAN DISTRICT SOUTH NIGERIA BY A. B. RENDLE, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S. KEEPER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY, BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HIsTorRy) E. G. BAKER, F.L.S., anp H. F. WERNHAM, B.Sc. ASSISTANTS IN THE DEPARTMENT S. MOORE, F.L.S., anp OrTHERs WITH SEVENTEEN PLATES LONDON : PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM AND SOLD BY Loncmans & Co., 39, PATERNOSTER Row, E.C.; B. QUARITCH, 11, GRAFTON STREET, NEw BoND STREET, W. ; DuLtau & Co., LTD., 37, SOHO SQUARE, W.; AND AT THE BRITISH MusEuM (NATURAL HIsToRY), CROMWELL Roap, S.W. 1913 a AS a a (All rights reserved) \ ~ \ a /)\ A nad LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, ; DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W. PREFACE Tux following account of the plants of the Oban District of South Nigeria has been drawn up from the collections made by Mr. and Mrs. P. Amaury Talbot in the years 1909 to 1912, during Mr. Talbot’s period of Government service in the District, and presented by them to the Museum. Mrs. Talbot also made a very large and beautiful series of drawings of the’ plants, reproductions of which she proposes to publish in a separate book. The plants have been determined and the novelties described by members of the Department of Botany, with the assistance of Mr. 8. Moore in various orders, Mr. H. N. Ridley who has worked out the Zingiberacee and Marantacee, and Miss A. Lorrain Smith who has determined the Lichens. For descrip- tions of a few new species I am indebted to Mr. Sprague and Mr. Hutchinson of the Herbarium of the Royal Gardens, Kew. The authorship of each portion of the work is indicated exactly in the text. Mr. Talbot has supplied a short account of the district and of the general character of its vegetation ; and notes on many of the plants by Mr. and Mrs. Talbot are incorporated with the descriptive matter. A. B. RENDLE. DepaRTMENT OF Botany, April, 1913. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION : > . - ‘ : : : : . Vii FLOWERING PLANTS— DicorTyLEDONS, Polypetale by Edmund G. Baker. : : : ‘ : 1 Gamopetale . : ‘ F ‘ : t 7 ets) Rubiacez by H. P. Wernham : ‘ ; : ; . 39 Composite by S. Moore 4 jm. BO Ebenacez and Apocynacee by H. F. Wernham 5 : it Asclepiadaceze by S. Moore . : : i 63 Loganiacez by 8. Moore and H. F. Western : : 5 (ae Convolvulaceew by A.B. Rendle . 5 ; F ; Bee Pedalines by H. F. Wernham ; F : F ; es Acanthacez by S. Moore ; : 5 : : é lle) Verbenaceee by H. F. Wernham . 5 : : ‘ 5 eo Monochlamydez by S. Moore . ‘ : : : : - gp MonocotyLepons 3 : . é ; : ‘ 5 ls) Orchidacez by A. B. Rendle é P ! . : . » 98 Zingiberaceswe by H. N. Ridley 5 ; : : : to Dioscoreacez to Graminee a A. B. Rendle . : : a Funai by J. Ramsbottom : : ; : : ‘ 5 alah Systematic List of PLANTS COLLECTED ; 120 FLOWERING Puants by EH. G. Baker, H. F. Wiper S. feces: A. B. Rendle and H. N. Ridley . : : : : eel 20) Ferns by A. Gepp ; : . : : . ; ; 5 ako Mosses by A.Gepp . : : : : : : : lo Funer by J. Ramsbottom . F : é : ; : . 152 Licurns by A. Lorrain Smith . 5 ; ; 3 : eos INDEX. - : - : ; : ; : : : 5 alas’ List oF PLATES . : ‘ ; : : : ‘ : 7 158 INTRODUCTION Tue following notes on the general character and vegetation of the Oban district have been kindly supplied by Mr. Talbot. The Oban district of South Nigeria * lies within the bend of the Cross River at a distance of 40 to 100 miles from the Gulf of Guinea. It is bounded on the East by the German Cameroons, of which it is, botanically speaking, an offshoot, though apparently exceeding its neighbour in the luxuriance of its vegetation. Throughout the length and breadth of the land hardly a level spot is to be found. The average height above the sea-line varies from about 300 to 900 feet, with masses of hills rising towards the centre into a clearly marked watershed, nearly 4000 feet high. The greater number of these hills have been climbed by us, but height seemed hardly to influence the luxuriance, or even type, of vegetation. The rocks of the district are very ancient and consist mostly of gneiss or granite, pierced by veins of iron ore and other minerals. The weathering of these has produced a soil very favourable to growth. This, mixed with the deep accumulation of rich vegetable humus and mould in the dense shade of these tropical forests, forms, in the warm damp climate, a kind of vast natural forcing bed, from which spring an almost inexhaustible variety of flowering plants and trees. These grow up with such incredible rapidity that I have found it difficult to recognise sites, which were under cultivation five years before. The land is drained by a close network of rivers, which meander through the deep green of the “bush,” like the veins of some giant leaf, or leap down the hill-sides in a series of cascades and waterfalls. The forests of Oban are usually described as within the ever- green belt, but, though evergreens predominate, more careful study discloses the presence of a very large proportion of deciduous trees, many of which burst into leaf and flower twice * A map of the district will be found with Mr, Talbot’s communication to the Geographical Journal (xxxvi. 637). Vill INTRODUCTION every year. Several are even known to bloom four times in the year, while on the other hand some cauliflorous trees only blossom every two or three years. Natives, whose information in other cases proved trustworthy, declared that certain ones only flower once in seven years. The number of different species to be found in these forests is immense and may be computed to average at least 400 to 500 distinct species to the square mile. Among these are to be found a large number of valuable economic trees, such as cam-wood, ebony, rubbers and mahoganies of enormous size, scented and otherwise. The state of age gradation among all such trees is more satisfactory too in this district than that in the greater part of the Protectorate. The annual rainfall, carefully kept during my tenure of office, averages 175 inches, and the humidity may be a contributory cause to the extraordinary large number of cauliflorous trees. The unusual rainfall and the heavy dews, which last all through the dry season, act too as protective agents in rendering impossible destruction by forest fires. A very considerable part of the district has at one time or other been under cultivation. The system of farming consists in roughly clearing the land in January and February, by cutting and burning the smaller growth, while the great trees are left standing. This has, however, affected the type of forest less than would otherwise have been the case, owing partly to the seanty population, about four to the square mile, and also to the large number of trees, which, according to the superstition of the people, must neither be destroyed nor planted, but left untroubled by human interference. A considerable part of the land may be regarded as virgin bush, and is perhaps the only important survival of that vast primeval belt, which once extended over the greater part of South Nigeria. In order to be convinced that the forests of Oban are to a great extent true primary forest one has only to leave a native path in the remote parts of the interior and cut one’s way for a short distance through the tangle of lianes, often of the girth of our Northern tree-trunks, which hang between giant boles, 200 to 300 feet high, and, in the case of cotton trees, over 80 feet in cir- cumference. Once the path has been lost sight of, one may wander for days without coming across a trace of human habitation. P, AMAURY TALBOT, INTRODUCTION 1x The collection includes 1,016 species and varieties, 195 of which are new; there are nine new genera. The new genera are Alphonseopsis and Dennettia in the order Anonaceze, the former allied to the Indian genus Alphonsea, the latter to Melodorum ; Crateranthus, a genus of Myrtaceze intermediate in structure between Napoleona and the tropical South American Asteranthos ; Afrohamelia (Rubiacee) most nearly allied to the tropical American Hamelia, and, in the same order, Dorothea and Diplosporopsis, new members of the tribe Gardeniez, and Globulostylis, the affinity of which is with Cuviera in the tribe Vangueriee ; Scyphostrychnos (Loganiacez) closely allied to Strych- nos; Talbotia,* a member of the tribe Justicizee in the order Acanthace ; and Amauriella, a member of the subfamily Philo- dendroidez in Aracez. Of the new species seven belong to the order Anonacez, three to Violaceze, three to Guttiferze, one to Malvacez, six to Sterculiacez, including four new Colas, two to Geraniacex, two to Meliaceze, two to Olacacee, one to Celastraceze, three to Sapindacez, three to Anacardiacex, five to Leguminose, one to Rosacer, eight to Myrtacee six of which belong to the genus Napoleona, three to Melastomace, thirty-four to Rubiaceze, one to Ebenaceze, one to Oleacex, twelve to Apocynaces, four to Asclepiadacez, nine to Loganiacex, one to Convolvulacexe, one to Pedalinez, twenty-one to Acanthaces, four to Verbenaces, three to Aristolochiacez, three to Laurinex, two to Euphorbia- cee, twenty to Orchidacez, two to Liliacexe, and three to Araceee. A few specimens have been included in the enumeration which were collected on a journey through Nigeria and the North Cameroons to the Bornu Country and Lake Chad ; the locality of these is indicated in each case.