The flowering plants of Africa An analytical key to the genera of African phanerograms

THE FLOWERING PLANTS OF AFRICA




                    THE FLOWERING PLANTS OF AFRICA

        AN ANALYTICAL KEY TO THE GENERA OF AFRICAN PHANEROGAMS

                            BY FR. THONNER

                       WITH 150 PLATES AND A MAP

             DULAU & CO., LTD. 37 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON 1915




                         _ALL RIGHTS RESERVED_




PREFACE


The flora of Africa being now comparatively well known, the author
of the present work considered the time opportune to present to the
public an analytical key for determining in an easy way the generic
name of every phanerogamous plant growing wild, whether indigenous or
naturalized, or cultivated upon a large scale within the geographical
limits of Africa including the islands.

The names and limits of the genera and families adopted in this
work are those accepted in ENGLER & PRANTL’S “Die natürlichen
Pflanzenfamilien,” the most recent work containing the description
of all genera of flowering plants, and its supplement “Genera
Siphonogamarum” by DALLA TORRE & HARMS.

As the present work is intended for the use not only of botanists,
but also of colonists and travellers in Africa, who take an interest
in botany, I have used, wherever it was possible, as distinctive
characters, those which are visible to the naked eye in a plant in
flower, being careful, however, not to deviate too much from the
natural system.

Besides the diagnostic characters of the genera, I have also indicated
the approximative number of the species described to the end of the
year 1910, their geographical distribution, their uses, and their more
important synonyms.

As to the terms used in indicating the geographical distribution of
African plants, “North Africa” (including North-west-and North-east
Africa) means all northern extratropical Africa, “South Africa”
(including South-west and South-east Africa) southern extratropical
Africa, “tropical Africa” Africa within the tropics, including all
islands, whereas the continent of Africa within the tropics including
only the small islands in the proximity of the coast, is designated by
“Central Africa.”

The present work was originally published in German under the title
“Die Blütenpflanzen Africas” (Berlin, R. Friedländer & Sohn, 1908). A
new edition being desirable, I have preferred the English language, and
I am indebted to Dr. A. B. RENDLE, of the British Museum, for revising
my translation.

The plates were drawn by the Vienna artist JOSEPH FLEISCHMANN from
herbarium specimens kindly lent from the collections of the Hofmuseum
at Vienna and the Jardin botanique de l’Etat at Brussels by their
respective keepers Dr. A. ZAHLBRUCKNER and Dr. E. DE WILDEMAN. Drawings
already published have been used for a few plates only; these are duly
indicated.

FRANZ THONNER.

VIENNA (AUSTRIA), September 1913.




LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS CONSULTED


 A. ENGLER & K. PRANTL, Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien (Leipzig,
 1889-1908).

 C. G. DE DALLA TORRE & H. HARMS, Genera Siphonogamarum (Leipzig,
 1900-1907).

 A. ENGLER, Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien, 6. ed. (Berlin, 1909).

--Das Pflanzenreich (Leipzig, 1900-1910).

--Monographien afrikanischer Pflanzenfamilien und-gattungen
 (Leipzig, 1898-1904).

--Die Vegetation Afrikas (Berlin, 1908-1910).

 G. BENTHAM & J. D. HOOKER, Genera plantarum (London, 1862-1883).

 J. D. HOOKER & B. D. JACKSON, Index Kewensis plantarum
 phanerogamarum (Oxford, 1895-1908).

 A. DE CANDOLLE, Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis
 (Paris, 1824-1873).

 C. S. KUNTH, Enumeratio plantarum (Stuttgart, 1833-1850).

 G. WALPERS, Repertorium botanices systematicae (Leipzig,
 1842-1847).

--Annales botanices systematicae (Leipzig, 1848-1868).

 A. & C. DE CANDOLLE, Monographiae phanerogamarum (Paris,
 1878-1896).

 H. BAILLON, Histoire des plantes (Paris, 1867-1895).

 TH. DURAND & H. SCHINZ, Conspectus florae Africae (Bruxelles,
 1895-1898).

        *       *       *       *       *

 R. DELILE, Flore d’Egypte (Paris, 1810).

 E. BOISSIER, Flora orientalis (Basel, 1867-1888).

 P. ASCHERSON & G. SCHWEINFURTH, Illustrations de la flore d’Egypte
 (Le Caire, 1887).

 E. SICKENBERGER, Contributions à la flore d’Egypte (Le Caire,
 1901).

 E. DURAND & G. BARRATTE, Florae Libycae prodromus (Genève, 1910).

 J. A. BATTANDIER & TRABUT, Flore de l’Algérie (Alger, 1888-1910).

--Flore de l’Algérie et de la Tunisie (Alger, 1902).

 W. TRELEASE, Botanical observations on the Azores (St. Louis,
 1897).

 R. T. LOWE, A manual flora of Madeira (London, 1868).

 PH. BARKER-WEBB & S. BERTHELOT, Phytographia Canariensis (Paris,
 1836-1840).

 J. PITARD & L. PROUST, Les îles Canaries (Paris, 1908).

        *       *       *       *       *

 D. OLIVER & W. T. THISELTON-DYER, Flora of tropical Africa (London,
 1868-1910).

 J. MILDBREAD, Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der deutschen
 Central-Africa-Expedition; Botanik (Berlin, 1910).

 A.