Vangueria
(Vao--Vanguer is the Madagascar name of V. edulis). SYNS. Meynia, Rytigynia, Vanguiera, Vavanga. ORD. Rubiaceae. A genus comprising about thirty species of stove shrubs and small trees, sometimes spiny, inhabiting tropical and sub-tropical regions (except in Australia). Flowers white or greenish, small, cymose or fascicled; calyx tube short, the limb five, rarely four, toothed or lobed, or irregularly five to ten-toothed; corolla tube short or mediocre, the limb of five, rarely four or six, ovate, acute, acuminate, or appendiculate, at length reflexed lobes; stamens five. Fruit a dry or fleshy drupe, sometimes edible and rather large. Leaves opposite, coriaceous or membranous; stipules interpetiolar, frequently connate in a persistent ring. V. edulis and V. velutina are the only species calling for description in this work. They thrive in a compost of loam and peat. Propagation may be effected by cuttings, inserted in similar soil, under a glass, in heat. V. edulis (edible-fruited). fl. green; cymes springing from below the leaves. June. fr. resembling an apple, but not crowned, succulent, edible, containing five stones. l. ovate, membranous, glabrous. h. 12ft. Madagascar, 1809. A small, unarmed tree.
V. velutina (velvety). fl. pale yellowish-green, axillary in the lower leaves, in short, dense cymes. May. l. large, opposite, nerved, shortly petiolate, cordate-ovate, rather acute, entire, much waved, mostly downy beneath. h. 3ft. Madagascar, 1829. A softly-tomentose shrub. (B. M. 3014.)