Plate 2562. 



MICROULA TIBETICA, Maxim. 



BORAGINACE.K. 



M. tibetica, Maxim. Mel. Biol. x. p. 682 (1877) ; inter species 

 cognitas hujus generis unica quod acaulescens vel subacaulescens est. 



Herba perennis, hispida, subacaulescens, inflorescenthe ramulis 

 brevissimis ac pedicellis saepe compressis. Folia subrosulata, eras- 

 siuscula, oblongo-spathulata, vel superiora (bractere ?) fere linearia. 

 1-3 poll, longa. Flores albi vel caerulei, densissime cymosi, 2-3 lin. 

 diametro. Calycis I obi ovati, subobtusi. Cor oil ce tubus brevissimus ; 

 lobi rotundati, undulati, glabri. Faucis squamce 5, minutce, rotundatse. 

 Stamina infra squamas inclusa. Stylus inclusus. Nuculm variae, plus 

 minusvetuberculatse ac setulosre, nunc medio dorso fovea parva immar- 

 ginata ornatre, nunc plan?e. — Microala Benthami, C. B. Clarke, in 

 Hook. f. Fl. Brit, Ind. iv. p. 167 (1883); Hook. Ic. PL t. 2257; 

 Tretocarya pratevsis, Maxim. Mel. Biol. xi. p. 272. 



Tibet • various localities, chiefly in the western part, from 15,000 to 

 18,500 feet, Thompson, Strachey <$c Winterbottom, Thorold, Deasy & 

 Pike, Well by & Malcolm, PrzewalsM. 



A second figure of this singular plant has been given, because further 

 material has proved, as Professor D. Oliver suspected (see the letter- 

 press to plate 2207), that the original Microula and the original Treto- 

 carya are the same plant. Among the specimens collected by Mr. 

 Arnold Pike, Captain Deasy's Expedition, are some which bear nutlets 

 exhibiting the characteristics of the two supposed genera. Tretocarya 

 therefore must be reduced to Microula, and T. sikkim,e?isis, Oliv. (plate 

 2255 of this work) becomes M. sikki/nensis, Hemsl. There is a third 

 species, M. taur/utica, Maxim., a native of alpine regions in Kansuh, 

 North-western China. The question arises, however, whether the genus 

 as thus constituted is tenable or whether it should not be reduced to 



Anchusa. — W. Bolting Hemsley. 



Fig. 1, a braeteole ; 2, unicellular hair from the same ; 3, a flower ; 4, pistil and 

 portion of calyx ; 5, corolla, laid open ; 6, pistil, advanced stage ; 7 and 8, ripe fruits 

 from the same plant {Thasy §• Pike, 848) ; 9, a ripe fruit from another plant ( W'ellhy 

 cf Malcolm), All enlarged. 



