Fagoma.] XXXI. ZYGOPHYLLE^E (OLIVER). 2S7 



spinose herbs. Leaves opposite, 1-3-foliolate. Stipules usually spinesceut. 

 Peduncles solitary, 1-flowered, apparently axillary. 



A small genus of few variable species. 



1. F. cretica, Linn.; DC. Prod. i. 704. An erect or ascending, 

 diffuse or densely-branched spinose annual, from a few inches to a toot or 

 more in height, glandular-puberulous, scabrid or glabrescent. Leaves 1-3- 

 foliohite ; leaflets sessile or subsessile, oval lanceolate or oblanceolate, mu- 

 cronate, often rather fleshy, puberulous or glabrate ; petiole various, often 

 very short. Stipular spines slender, straight, shorter or longer than the 

 leaves. Flowers rose or lilac, " fragrant." Peduncles at length deflexed. 

 Fruit apieulate, pubescent or glabrous. — F. arabica, Linn. ; DC. Prod. i. 

 704. F. ghdihosa and F. latlfoUa, Delile, Fl. Mgypt. 86. t. 28. F. parvi- 



fiora, F. Kahirana, and F. thtbaica, Boiss. Diag. PI. Or. Ser. i. fasc. viii. 



"121-124. F. armata, E. Br. in Salt, Abyss. App. 64. — For more extended 

 synonymy of this variable plant, see Anderson in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. Suppl. 

 i. 11. 



North Central. Aghadem, Br. Oudney ! E. Vogel ! 



Nile Land. Nubia, Ehrenberg, Speke and Orant ! and others ; Abyssinia, Salt ! 

 Schimper ! Ked Sea, Nimmo I 



Occurs on both shores of the Mediterranean, in S. extratropical Africa, throughout the 

 warmer dry parts of Asia, and again in "Western N. and S. America. 



The more important forms, recorded from Nubia or adjacent provinces, of this variable 

 species, and which by many botanists are regarded as of specific rank, are (the characters 

 briefly given in abstract from M. Boissier's ' Flora Orientalis,' i. 904-908) :— 



«. Glabrous, green. Extremities sulcate. Spines shorter than petiole. Leaflets 3, linear- 

 lanceolate, acute.— (F. cretica, Linn.) 



b. Erect, green, shortly glandular. Extremities striate. Spines exceeding the acute 

 linear leaves.— {F. arabica, Linn.) 



0. Green, glabrous ; twigs striate. Upper spines equalling the fleshy 1-3-foliolate leaves. 

 Leaflets oblong-cylindrical, obtuse, mucronate. — (F. thebaica, Boiss.) 



d. Glabrous, except the minutely mealy, terete, striate extremities. Spines exceeding the 

 1-foliolate leaves. Leaflets linear-lanceolate.— (F. parviflora, Boiss.) 



e. Viscid with sessile glands. Spines short. Leaflets minute, obovate to oblanceolate, 

 obtuse or mucronate.— (F. glutinosa, Delile.) 



/. Diffuse, srlandular-pilose. Spines short. Leaflets 1-3 ; median rotundate-cuneate.— 

 (F. lalifolia, Delile.) 



4. SEETZENIA, K. Br. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 266. 



Sepals 5, oblanceolate, acute, valvate, deciduous. Petals 0. Stamens 5 ; 

 filaments filiform, naked. Ovary oblong-clavate, 5-sulcate. Styles 5, short, 

 radiating or recurved ; stigmas capitellate. Ovules solitary, pendulous. Fruit 

 of five 1-seeded crustaceous cocci, separating septicidally.— Prostrate herb 

 from a shrubby base or thick woody rootstock. Leaves opposite, 3-foliolate, 

 with interpetiolar stipules. Flowers small, axillary, solitary. 



Based upon a single wide-spread species, occurring at the Cape and from N. Africa east- 

 ward to N.W. India. I have not seen intertropical specimens but cannot doubt its occur- 

 ring within our limits, although Willdenow's quotation of Sierra Leone as a station (under 

 Z'jgophyllum lanatum) is disputed by R. Brown (Denham and Clapp. App. 26). 



1. S. africana, Br. in Dvnh. et Clapp. App. 26. Papillose or smooth. 



