Tab. 7929. 



ECHIDNOPSIS SOMALENSIS. 



Native of Somaliland. 



Nat. Ord. Asclepiadace.e.— Tribe Stapelie.«. 

 Genns EcHlDKOPSIS, Ifook.f. ; (Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. ii. p. 781.) 



EcniDNOPSis somalensis ; frutex nanus (planta depicta semipedalis) carnosus 

 aphyllus, cereiformis, glaber, caulibus ramisque viridibus cylindricis £-1 

 poll, diametro 6-8-sulcatis tessellatis inermibus, floribus subseasilibua sl li- 

 tariia vel 2 vel 3 aggregates 4-5 lin. diametro atropurpnreis luteo- 

 punctatis pnberulis vel papillosis, calycis lobis ovatis acutia circiter \ lin. 

 longis, corollas hemisphgerico-rotataa lobis ovatis incurvis vel deraam 

 patentibus acutis, corona? exterioris lobis angastia curvatis apice breviter 

 recurvis intus oanaliculatis glabris, coronas iaterioris lobi3 deltoideis 

 obtusis antheiis incumbentibus. 



E. somalensis, N. E. Brown in Fl. Trop. Afr. vol. iv. p. 477. 



The get) us Echidnopsis was founded on a cultivated plant 

 of E. cereiformis, Hook. f. (Bot. Mag. t. 5930), which is 

 very similar to the present species in habit, but it has 

 bright yellow flowers. The stems, too, are longer, but 

 that may be due to age, and more flexible. E. cereiformis 

 was originally recorded as a native of South Africa, but it 

 is now known to inhabit Eritrea, Abyssinia and Somali- 

 land ; possibly Socotra also. E. Bentii, N. E. Brown 

 (Bot. Mag. t. 7760), a native of tropical Arabia, has some- 

 what larger, crimson flowers. About half-a-dozen species 

 are now known from Eastern Tropical Africa, and the 

 genus is also represented in Arabia and the island of 

 Socotra. 



The plant figured was cultivated by Mr. R. I. Lynch, 

 Curator of the Cambridge Botanic Garden. It was also 

 among the plants collected and presented to Kew by Mrs. 

 Lort Philips and Miss Edith Cole ; and Cambridge obtained 

 it from the same source. 



Descr. — A dwarf, fleshy, leafless shrub, resembling a 

 small, columnar Cereus, glabrous, except the flowers ; the 

 plant figured, about six inches high. Stems and branches 

 green, cylindrical, half to one inch in diameter, six- to 

 eight-furrowed, tessellated, unarmed. Flowers nearly 

 sessile, solitary, or two or three in a cluster, four to five 

 December 1st, 1903. 



