2 



In the meantime, at the kind suggestion of the Rev. Dr. Warre, 

 C.B., M.V.O., Kew had applied to Captain Cordeaiix, asking him to 

 procure flowering and fruiting specimens of the plant which yields the 

 ' yeheb ' nut. Captain Cordeaux at once responded and called our atten- 

 tion to the earliest record of the plant by the late Captain M, S. Wellby 

 (Report on a Journey in Somaliland, 1896), explaining that there were 

 considerable difficulties of distance and native messengers to be over- 

 come, but undertaking to do his best. In January 1907 he sent 

 the bush of which a reduced representation is given (t. 2838), and 

 some seeds without the pods. These were followed, in July, by some 

 flowers, in poor condition, and pods containing seeds. By careful 

 manipulation of the fragments ol flowers left uneaten by insects we have 

 been able to build up a complete one and determine the affinities of 



the plant. 



The paragraph in Captain WcUby's report relating to Cordeavxia 



runs : — ^ Yee-ep, a small thick-leaved bush, always green. After the 



rains the fruit is collected. Kind of nut in a thin crisp shell. Should 



a. 



a. 



Fia. 1, Median section through a glandular 

 hair on the leaf of Cordeauxia edidis ; 

 c, secretory cavity; a., layer of cells en- 

 closing the cavity, x 265. 



be eaten stewed. If the green leaves are rubbed in the hands, they 

 are stained red.' 



The staining is due to the presence of glands containing a red colouring 

 matter. They are present, not only on the under surface and margin 

 of the leaves, but also on the sepals and ovaries, Mr. L. A. Boodle, 

 Assistant in the Jodrell Laboratory, has examined the glands, and 

 his description of them follows. — AV. Botting Hemsley. 



The glandular hairs on the leaves etc. are peltate, and consist of 

 a very short multicellular stalk and a rather thick approximately 

 orbicular head, in which there is a cavity (c, in text, fig. 1) containing 

 a red secretion. Externally and laterally the cavity is enclosed by a 

 single layer of cells (a.), and all the cells immediately bounding the 

 cavity appear to be secretory in the young gland ; some of them may 

 project considerably into this central space, and occasionally two 

 cells may be elongated so as to meet across the cavity. In older 

 glands the cells of the stalk become thick-walled, and the inner walls 



^ 



