Tas. 7671. 
MUSSASNDA oapsorirera. 
Native of Socotra. 
Nat. Ord. Rustacrs.—Tribe Muss #NDE. 
Genus Mussenna, Linn.; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 64.) 
Muss2£nDa capsulifera; frutex, ramulis teretibus calycibus tuboque corolle 
strigilloso-puberulis, foliis 14-23 poll. longis elliptico-oblongis obovatis v. 
rarius oblongo-lanceolatis acutis obtusisve subcoriaceis glaberrimis v. 
subtus secus nervos puberulis basi in petiolum brevem angustatis lete 
viridibus, stipulis minutis utrinqne solitariis dentiformibus integerrimis, 
floribus corymboso-cymosis breviter pedicellatis pentameris albis odoris, 
bracteolis minimis, calycis tubo ovoideo, limbi segmentis linearibus sequali- 
bus persistentibus, corolle tubo 1-1 poll. longo gracili tereti intus piloso, 
fauce paullo dilatato strigoso-piloso, limbi } poll. diam. segmentis patulis 
cuneiformibus cordatisve apice retusis sinu obtuse cuspidatis alabastro 
apice 5-cornuto reduplicatim valvatis, staminibus infra faucem corolle 
insertis, filamentis brevissimis, antheris linearibus, connectivo apice pro- 
ducto, disco pulvinari, stylo filiformi, sti, matibus brevibus oblongis intus 
papillosis, capsula parva breviter oblonga calycis segmentis coronata, 
loculicide polysperma, valvis coriaceis, seminibus striatis angulatis et 
foveolatis. 
M. capsulifera, Balf. f. in Proc. R. 8. Edinb, vol. xi. (1882), p. 836, et in Trans. 
Soc. ejusd. vol. xxxi. (1888), p. 116, Tab. xxix. 
Od el Ksth, Arad. 
A very interesting plant, discovered by Dr. Balfour on 
hills about 800 feet high in Socotra, in 1880, and since 
then collected there by Dr. Schweinfurth, and in 1887 by 
Mr. Bent, from whose specimens seeds were taken, which 
produced in the Royal Gardens, Kew, the specimen here 
figured. As pointed out by Dr. Balfour, it differs from the 
type of Mussenda, not only in the absence of a dilated 
calycine segment, but in the loculicidal capsule. Its very 
near ally in the latter character is the M. luteola, Del., of 
Nile land. In the obconic flower-bud crowned by the five 
cusps of the lobes of the corolla, it is quite peculiar. 
M. capsulifera has been described as a tree ; but judging 
from the dried specimens I should think it was rather a 
small shrub, especially as the Kew specimen is fully deve- 
loped and flowering at eighteen inches high in a stove, 
first in April, 1899, and now in July. The latter further 
differs from the description in the quite entire stipules, and 
Aveust Ist, 1899. 
