40 



to conclude that Capt. Cordeaux was the Commissioner of the 

 Somaliland Protectorate mentioned in the Imperial Institute 

 Bulletin as having sent the seeds there. 



W; 



continued interest in the subject by sending some • Yeheb ' beans 

 from Somaliland. These beans proved to be identical with the 

 seeds received in April, 1906, but none of them germinated. 



Capt. Cordeaux at last succeeded in procuring specimens, and 

 on July 26, 1907, the following letter from him reached Kew : 



" Berbera, via Aden, July 8, 1907. 



" I have made several attempts to obtain specimens of the 



"flowers of the Yeheb bush, but I fear without much success. 



" The last specimens I received arrived crushed almost out of all 



" recognition, and as they had evidently been picked during, or 



"immediately after, rain, they were nearly all mouldy and 

 " rotten. 



" One small sprig, however, seemed worth keeping, aud this I 

 " endeavoured to press and now enclose. I am afraid it cannot be 



regarded as a botanical specimen, but it may help to identify the 

 " genus of the bush. 



^ " I am also sending by parcel post a few of the less damaged 

 u *P^ imens that arrived at the same time, together with some 

 Yeheb nuts in the pod, which you may not have seen. 



" I trust you may be able to discover something of interest from 

 these rather meagre specimens, and I shall be very interested to 

 hear the result. The word Yeheb I should say is a purely 

 Somali word, and as far as I have been able to ascertain has no 

 particular meaning, and is merelv the natfv« rHnm Q i.\ *™ Q r™ 



" the plant." 



ali) 



remaining 



«!«•?? catena thus supplied by Capt. Cordeaux it was 



possible, in spite of he fact that the expanded flowers were all 

 more or less damaged by insects, to draw up a complete descr 

 tion of the plant : an uninjured flower-bud afforded the Sf orSSon 

 necessary as regards the number and relative position of the mrts 

 jhile the injured flowers supplied material for the - ' ' 

 figures in Hooker's Icones Plantarum, tt 2838 2839 



diff erent quarter from those sent hS ° mahl * nd ' comin g from a 

 considerable numbei of healthv I ^i Fr0m the8e seed * * 

 plants have grown mor rJS 5 i ?. V ^ came up ; these 

 two first raised. P dly and look much stronger than the 



tor identification. In the houe of ow • eheb seeds sont 



nation on tMs int f °P e of ob tammg more definite inf„r- 



August, 7, 1907. The reply dSll i 8Sed l" the Institute on 

 The only information X'n t h™ I 8 m J th ' 8ta 'ed that :- 



ongin £ the seeds submitted to ™u X^*, "^ ^"^phical 



i ou is tne following statement 



