39 
cephalus of Willdenow, of which I have seen no specimen, 
but if the character given by that author or by DeCandolle 
are to be relied upon, it must be different. By the latter it is 
only separated from A. Barba Jovis, at the instance of Steven; 
but if Mr. Brant’s species were intended it could never have 
been joined with the latter, whose pods are described as 
smooth. Willdenow speaks of the teeth of the calyx being 
short, whereas in Mr. Brant’s plant they are unusually long, 
and almost hide the corolla. Finally, the term mucronate 
applied by these Botanists to the leaflets by no means ex- 
presses the long rigid spine by which they are terminated. 
It must therefore be regarded as a new species, of which 
the characters are subjoined under the name of A. strobili- 
ferus. 
Hence it appears that the best Tragacanth is really fur- 
nished by A. gummifer, as Labillardiére affirmed; that no 
additional evidence as to the accuracy of Olivier’s statement 
concerning A. verus has been obtained ; but that the exist- 
ence of a third Tragacanth plant has been clearly ascertained. 
The specific character of A. strobiliferus may be stated thus : 
71. ASTRÁGÁLUS strobilife us ; floribus in strobilum ovatum sessilem axil- 
larem capitatis, bracteis imbricatis apiculatis tomentosis, calycibus plu- 
mosis 5-fidis: laciniis corollze sequalibus, foliolis 3-jugis lanatis ovalibus 
apice aristatis glabris, basi angustatis. . 
OAKS OF KOORDISTAN. 
The same intelligent, traveller, to whose collections we 
owe the preceding evidence concerning the origin of Traga- 
canth, has sent home some most interesting specimens of the 
Oaks of Koordistan; and it is not a little remarkable that 
out of six or perhaps seven species in his herbarium, one 
should be almost unknown to Botanists, and at least three 
others not only quite new but of singular beauty as forest- 
trees. As means have now been taken by Mr. Strangways 
to procure the acorns of these valuable plants, we may expect 
to see them in a year or two in our gardens, and therefore a 
short account of them may be admitted into this work. 
Quercus infectoria, producing the nut galls of the Levant, 
from which ink is made ; another plant that may be a deeply 
pinnatifid state of Q. sessiliflora, but probably quite distinct, 
indeterminable, however, for want of acorns; and the Q. 
