Dr. Alexander Prior's Herbarium and Botanical Library.— 

 Dr. Richard Chandler Alexander Prior died on December 8th, 1902, 

 in Lis ninety-fourth year. He bequeathed the whole of hie 

 herbarium to Kew, together with a sum of money to defray the 

 cost of removing the same from his residence at Halse, near 

 Taunton, to Kew, where it was delivered April 15th, 1903. 

 Dr. Prior travelled and collected plants on a large scale in the 

 South of Europe, South Africa, Canada and the West Indies, and 

 distributed duplicates during his lifetime. His Herbarium 

 proprlum is estimated to contain about 30,000 sheets, of which 

 some 7,000 are South African, and 4,500 West Indian, mainly 

 from the Blue Mountains, Jamaica. These two collections form 

 the most valuable part, and were all collected by himself. 



Dr. Prior had also a considerable Botanical Library, a selection 

 from which, of about 140 volumes, was presented to Kew, by his 

 heir, Sir Prior Goldney, Bart. They are classical works of which 

 Kew greatly needed second copies for the use of the ever- 

 iucreasing number of workers here. 



Anabasis Haussknechtii, J5o/ss.— The twigs of this plant are sold 

 in the bazaars of Ispahan, where I myself have bought a sample 

 of them. They were called " sodab," a name which, however, is 

 usually applied to specimens of Haplophijlhim , and were said to 

 be used for washing. Mr. Th. Strauss, in Sultanabad, sent me 

 some time ago a small sample of the same material by the 

 name of ^'galiab," together with a specimen of the plant from 

 which it is derived. He then said that it is used in the dyeing 

 manufactory. On my request to give more particulars about the 

 use of the plant he informed me that the dyers use it for washing 

 wool, and that it makes with boiling water a sort of lather. At 

 the same time he sent a large sample of what he meant to be the 

 same drug. It contained , indeed , twigs of 4 « abasis Haussknechtii y 

 but I convinced myself from the sample now in our museum 

 that it consists chiefly of the twigs and leaves of Seidlitda 

 florida, M.B., another Salsolacea. Anabasis Haussknechtii, Boiss., 

 was found by Dr. Hausskneeht and myself near Ispahan, where 

 it grows in abundance over large areas of gravelly and somewhat 

 salty soil. It is frequent, according to Mr. Th. Strauss, in the salty 

 plain near Sultanabad, and there is also a specimen in the Herbarium 

 from Chehar Mehall in Persia, collected by Dr. Hausskneeht. 

 A. Hausslaiechtii is closely allied to .4. aphijlla, L., and a closer 

 investigation may well prove it to be only a variety or form of it. 

 Seidlitzia florida, M.B., is distributed from the salty steppes of 

 Transcaucasia through North-Western Persia beyond Isaphan, 

 where I saw it frequently in the desert on the lower Sajende Rua 

 and in the Garokhane. 



With regard to the statement that the material makes with 

 boiling water a sort of lather I am inclined to suggest that it only 

 does so m the presence of raw sheep wool, in which case the 

 potash of the plant and the grease of the wool would naturally 

 form a soap, thus producing a lather. 



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